Reproduction Strategies of Elephants and Chimpanzees

Elephants Elephants are the largest mammals on earth Height of an African bush elephant of 11 ft The weight of 13,000 lbs Also living as long as 60 to 70 years Elephants have very strong memorise They also have emotions such as, they are able to cry just like humans, can get very emotional at times during births of new babies and deaths

Elephant Reproduction Elephants use Sextual reproduction to create their offspring During each reproductive cycle, the female elephant will produce one offspring, rarely with she produce multiple in one cycle Female elephants have to wait 3-9 years until they can give birth again, on average, elephants produce 4 calves in a 50 year reproductive life span. Mating lasts 20 seconds and continues for 2 days The age for sextual maturity for females is 11-20 and for males 14-19 but older males 40-50 years of age are most likely to breed with the females Length of gestation is: 20-22 months and also is the longest gestation period of all mammals The length of the period of offspring dependency is 3-4 years after birth The mating behaviors include: male elephants fanning their ears more than other times to get their sent out there at a wider distance to attract females and potential mates.

Chimpanzees Live up to 40 to 60 years Weigh 88 to 133 lbs Chances of having twins for chimps are higher than humans They are apes--not monkeys They communicate with each other through a complex system of vocalizations, gestures, body postures and facial expressions.

Chimpanzees Reproduction Chimpanzees use Sextual reproduction to create their off spring. During each reproductive cycle, the female will produce one offspring, but twins are also common. Chimps will only give birth once every five years to give her full attention to her young one Sextial maturity is reached at the age of 10-13, the female have the life span up to 60 years so are able to reproduce until about the age of 40 The gestation period averages about 230 days. The offsprings dependency with its mother will but most likely up to even when it’s 10-16 The life span of chimp’s are up to 40-60 years Mating behaviors include: swelling of genital, females go through a 36 day cycle of estrus which is the time that they will be likely to become pregnant. The males will be attracted to the additional hormonal scents that the females offer during this period of time.

Compare and Contrasting The Reproductive Strategies of Elephants and Chimpanzees Similarities Differences Both use sextual reproduction to produce offspring Both animals have to wait a many years before they are able to produce another offspring The more dominant and/or older elephant and chimp will always get the female's way more likely than the younger and/or less dominant. Chimpanzees have a longer dependency on their mother than elephants do Elephants have a very much longer period of gestation than chimp’s