African elephant vs

Loxodonta africana compared with Cobetia crustatorum

Key Differences

• African elephant is Vulnerable while is Not Evaluated.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	African elephant
Kingdom	Animalia (Animals)	Bacteria (Bacteria)
Phylum	Chordata (Chordates)	Proteobacteria (Proteobacteria)
Class	Mammalia (Mammals)	Gammaproteobacteria (Gammaproteobacteria)
Order	Proboscidea (Elephants)	Pseudomonadales (Pseudomonadales)
Family	Elephantidae (Elephants)	Halomonadaceae
Genus	Loxodonta (African Elephants)	Cobetia
Species	Loxodonta africana	Cobetia crustatorum

Conservation Status

African elephant

VU — Vulnerable

Population: ~415.0K

Trend: Decreasing ↓

NE — Not Evaluated

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	African elephant
Diet	Herbivore	—
Average Lifespan	65 years	—
Average Length	6.0 m	—
Average Weight	6.0 t	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

African elephant

Habitat

Found across multiple habitat types including tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, tropical and subtropical grasslands and savannas, and flooded grasslands and savannas, among 5 distinct biome types within the Afrotropic biogeographic realm. Populations are also found in montane and highland environments at higher elevations.

Range

Found in Kenya. Currently classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, this species faces significant conservation challenges across its range.

Habitat

Native to Asia, inhabiting ecosystems characteristic of the region.

Range

Found in Taiwan.

African elephant

The largest land animal on Earth, African elephants can reach 7,000 kg and inhabit sub-Saharan savannas, forests, and wetlands. Highly intelligent with complex social structures led by matriarchs, they communicate through infrasound, rumbles, and touch. As ecosystem engineers, they shape habitats by uprooting trees, digging waterholes, and dispersing seeds. Vulnerable, with populations declining due to ivory poaching and habitat loss.

Cobetia crustatorum is a halophilic gram-negative bacterium in the family Halomonadaceae, closely related to other salt-tolerant members of the genus Cobetia. This aerobic, chemoorganotrophic organism was originally described from saline crustacean-associated environments, with its species epithet 'crustatorum' referring to its association with crustaceans. Like its congeners, C. crustatorum is adapted to thrive in environments with sodium chloride concentrations well above those tolerable by most mesophilic bacteria, typically growing optimally at 5–15% NaCl. The organism exhibits the characteristic gram-negative cell wall architecture and typically appears as short rods or ovoid cells under microscopy. Cobetia crustatorum has been documented from coastal Taiwanese marine habitats, where it participates in the decomposition of organic materials in saline sediments and associated with marine invertebrates. It produces extremolytes such as ectoine that protect cellular machinery from osmotic stress and desiccation. The organism is aerobic and motile, using polar flagella for locomotion in its aqueous saline environment. Taxonomically, the genus Cobetia was reclassified from Halomonas following phylogenetic analyses that revealed distinct evolutionary lineages within the broader Halomonadaceae family. Research on Cobetia species is ongoing due to their potential applications in biotechnology, particularly for biosurfactant and extremolyte production in industrial settings. Conservation status has not been evaluated by the IUCN.