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Description
In popular knowledge, elephants are commonly separated into two kinds, African and Asian (that is, when a distinction is made at all). In actuality, there are three very distinct, very different, very unique species of elephant alive today:
-The African Bush Elephant (Loxodonta africana), the biggest and most numerous, native to the savannas and bushlands of sub-saharan Africa.
-The African Forest Elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis), the smallest and least known, native to the rainforests of the Congo Basin.
-The Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus), the most endangered, native to the tropical forests and grasslands of southern Asia (and I may add, my personal favorite of the three, and my all time favorite animal).
The two species of African Elephants are as distinct from each other as the Asian Elephants are from the Woolly Mammoths. The African Forest Elephant is actually more closely related to the extinct, massive Straight-tusked Elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus) than it is to its contemporary African cousin.

I made the three elephant portraits back in 2019, and added the phylogenetic tree only last year. The drawings may be in need of some tweaking and updating, but overall I'm quite pleased with them

Description
In popular knowledge, elephants are commonly separated into two kinds, African and Asian (that is, when a distinction is made at all). In actuality, there are three very distinct, very different, very unique species of elephant alive today:
-The African Bush Elephant (Loxodonta africana), the biggest and most numerous, native to the savannas and bushlands of sub-saharan Africa.
-The African Forest Elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis), the smallest and least known, native to the rainforests of the Congo Basin.
-The Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus), the most endangered, native to the tropical forests and grasslands of southern Asia (and I may add, my personal favorite of the three, and my all time favorite animal).
The two species of African Elephants are as distinct from each other as the Asian Elephants are from the Woolly Mammoths. The African Forest Elephant is actually more closely related to the extinct, massive Straight-tusked Elephant (Palaeoloxodon antiquus) than it is to its contemporary African cousin.

I made the three elephant portraits back in 2019, and added the phylogenetic tree only last year. The drawings may be in need of some tweaking and updating, but overall I'm quite pleased with them