Afrikanischer Elefant vs Coahuila-Texas Yucca

Loxodonta africana compared with Yucca coahuilensis

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Afrikanischer Elefant	Coahuila-Texas Yucca
Kingdom	Animalia (Tier)	Plantae (Pflanzen)
Phylum	Chordata (Chordatiere)	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)
Class	Mammalia (Säugetiere)	Liliopsida (Monocots)
Order	Proboscidea (Rüsseltiere)	Asparagales (Spargelartige)
Family	Elephantidae (Elephants)	Asparagaceae
Genus	Loxodonta (African Elephants)	Yucca
Species	Loxodonta africana	Yucca coahuilensis

Conservation Status

Afrikanischer Elefant

VU — Vulnerable

Population: ~415.0K

Trend: Decreasing ↓

Coahuila-Texas Yucca

VU — Vulnerable

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Afrikanischer Elefant	Coahuila-Texas Yucca
Diet	Herbivore	—
Average Lifespan	65 years	—
Average Length	6.0 m	—
Average Weight	6.0 t	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Afrikanischer Elefant

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.

Coahuila-Texas Yucca

Habitat

Typically found in grasslands, wetlands, forests, and cultivated landscapes.

Afrikanischer Elefant

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.

Coahuila-Texas Yucca

Yucca coahuilensis, the Coahuila-Texas yucca, is a striking succulent plant in the family Asparagaceae native to the Chihuahuan Desert along the border region of Coahuila state in northeastern Mexico and adjacent southwestern Texas. The species occupies arid to semi-arid shrubland, desert grassland, and limestone hillsides where it grows on rocky, well-drained soils in areas receiving low and highly seasonal rainfall. Like all yuccas, Y. coahuilensis produces a rosette of stiff, sword-like leaves with sharp terminal spines and a tall flowering stalk bearing large, bell-shaped white flowers that are pollinated almost exclusively by yucca moths in the genus Tegeticula, with which the plant maintains an obligate mutualistic relationship. The moth larvae feed on developing seeds while simultaneously pollinating the flowers, a system representing one of the most tightly co-evolved plant-pollinator mutualisms in North America. Yucca coahuilensis is classified as Vulnerable by the IUCN, reflecting its restricted range in a binational border region subject to habitat alteration from ranching, agricultural expansion, and changing precipitation patterns associated with climate change in the Chihuahuan Desert ecosystem.