The national animal of the Central African Republic is the elephant, naturally the African elephant. This majestic beast is a vitally important national symbol of the strength and pride of the people as well as being emblematic of the country’s natural beauty. Elephants are central to the Central African Republic.
Elephants today are the largest animals that walk the Earth. It is no surprise, then, that they have played such an important symbolic role in so many human cultures.
To the people of the Central African Republic, they are among the most important of all animals found within the nation’s borders.
Let’s find out more.
What is the national animal of the Central African Republic?
The national animal of the Central African Republic is the African elephant.
There are two extant species of African elephant and both are found in the Central African Republic: the African bush elephant and the smaller cousin the African forest elephant.
Both animals are very important national symbols to all African people but especially to people of the CAR.
Both species are grey, herbivorous, highly social mammals with complex hierarchies and a high degree of intelligence.
The main difference between the two are in the size; African bush elephants are bigger since they tend to live in more open environments.
They also have differently-shaped skulls and ears.
They were first taxonomically distinguished by modern naturalism in 1797 by Johann Friedrich Blumenbach.
Their skin is gray, folded and can be as thick as 30mm, and is covered in sparse, bristled hair.
Of course they also feature the elephant’s iconic trunk which they can use for feeding and as a gripping appendage.
Strictly speaking, it is a prehensile elongation of its nose and upper lip, manipulated and controlled by as many as 60,000 individual muscles.
They can use it to lift as much as 3% of their own body weight.
Their huge ears are vital for dissipating heat from their bodies as they live exclusively in very warm environments.
They can flap their ears to create strong, cooling currents of air around them.
These elephants are distributed widely across sub-Saharan Africa, although not as widely as they once were.
Both species are in an incredibly precarious conservation position, being either vulnerable or critically endangered, and thus a great deal will need to be done in the future to ensure their continued survival.
Why, then, are they the CAR’s national animal?
Why is the elephant the national animal of the Central African Republic?
The elephant is a vital symbol all across Africa and indeed in many other parts of the world.
In the CAR, they are seen as embodiments of gentle strength and wisdom, powerful creatures and yet graceful and not malicious.
They embody the spirit of the CAR people through their quiet disposition towards peace despite their large size–they remain elusive even as large as they are.
Spiritually and symbolically, then, they are seen as embodiments of a number of important CAR values.
On the other hand, they are also simply seen as very important embodiments of the natural beauty of the CAR.
Elephants are, at least at present, inextricable from these landscapes and thus the people of the CAR simply can’t imagine their country without them.
The landscape and the animal are intertwined.
However, the question of their conservation status is also an important point.
As mentioned, both species of African elephant are under a great deal of threat from all kinds of sources; by making them the national animal, the government of the CAR in part hopes to bring attention to the animal’s plight and highlight the dangers the species faces.
Though alone this will not be enough, it’s a good step towards preserving them.
How many African elephants are left?
It’s hard to give a precise figure as there are many areas where the animals have not been sighted for a long time though which they may still inhabit.
The best estimates suggest that in total there are around 415,000 African elephant remaining in the wild today.
Though this may seem like a lot, if you were to go back only a century there would be an estimated five million African elephants across the continent.
There is no doubt about the danger the species is truly in, then, and the drastic action that will need to be taken to preserve them.
Are African elephants the biggest elephants?
African bush or savannah elephants are indeed the biggest species of elephant, with African forest elephants being of comparable size to the Asian species.
African bull elephants can stand up to three metres tall and weigh as much as 6,000 kilos.
They are, as mentioned, the largest animal that walks the Earth today and African bush elephants are the largest of the whole genus of broader elephant species.
Their more open habitats mean that they can get by with a bigger size as they do not need to be compact enough to navigate forests and forest environments.
Elephants are beautiful and captivating creatures but they are also under profound threat.
Both extant species of African elephant are poised on a knife’s edge and their future hangs very much in the balance.
It is going to take some serious efforts to preserve this species for future generations, and to maintain the myth, majesty and importance of these animals to the people of the Central African Republic.