African elephantThe African elephant Loxodonta has adapted to adapt to its hostile environment. They can be found in most of Zimbabwe and Botswana. Rainfall in Botswana occurs mainly in the months of December, January and February, which is the rainy season. In the north-east of Botswana 600 mm of rain falls and 200 mm in the drier south-west. (Declared Siyabona Africa, 2014) Adaptations: Limbs Skeleton An elephant has a large skull to use as a weapon when competing with other elephants for territory or when female elephants protect their calves from intruding elephants. Skin and thermoregulation: Elephants have thickened skin on certain areas of the body, this is known as pachyderms. Their skin is up to 1 inch thick in most areas, but on some parts of the body such as the legs, the end of the trunk and the back the skin is 1 to 1 inch thick. The skin is very thin behind the ears, surrounding the eyes, abdomen, chest and shoulders. They have sparse hair that helps cool the elephant's temperature. The African elephant has deep, fine wrinkles where water is stored to moisten the skin, this is essential where they live in dry conditions. The water in the wrinkles will evaporate, cooling the elephant's body temperature. There are two layers on the skin: the epidermis and the dermis, within which are hair follicles and glands. In the elephant's ears there are thin blood vessels that are close to the surface of the skin. Warm blood from the elephant's body is pumped into the blood vessels. The blood will be cooled by the outside air and then pumped back into the body, this is important to maintain the elephant's internal temperature of 37 degrees where the environment...... middle of paper ......r room. The veins that carry blood to the atrium from the lower half of the body are paired. (Body Systems, 2014). Deoxygenated blood travels through the vena cava into the right atrium. The right atrium then contracts causing blood to enter the right ventricle through the tricuspid valve. The right ventricle contracts, causing blood to pass through the pulmonary artery and then into the capillaries, or blood vessels, of the lungs. In the lungs, carbon dioxide is then released by red blood cells. Oxygenated blood from the lungs will be transported into the left atrium, then it will be pushed into the left ventricle through the bicuspid valve. The left ventricle then pumps oxygenated blood through the aorta and then throughout the body. This means that the elephant has a double circulation system as it travels twice through the heart.