Elefante de Sabana vs Common cattle grub

Loxodonta africana compared with Hypoderma lineatum

Key Differences

• Elefante de Sabana is Vulnerable while Common cattle grub is Extinct.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Elefante de Sabana	Common cattle grub
Kingdom same	Animalia (Animals)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Chordata (cordados)	Arthropoda (artrópodos)
Class	Mammalia (mamíferos)	Insecta (insecto)
Order	Proboscidea (Elephants)	Diptera (Diptera)
Family	Elephantidae (Elephants)	Oestridae
Genus	Loxodonta (African Elephants)	Hypoderma
Species	Loxodonta africana	Hypoderma lineatum

Evolutionary Relationship

Elefante de Sabana and Common cattle grub share a common ancestor at the Kingdom level: Animalia. (Animals)

Conservation Status

Elefante de Sabana

VU — Vulnerable

Population: ~415.0K

Trend: Decreasing ↓

Common cattle grub

EX — Extinct

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Elefante de Sabana	Common cattle grub
Diet	Herbivore	—
Average Lifespan	65 years	—
Average Length	6.0 m	—
Average Weight	6.0 t	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Elefante de Sabana

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.

Common cattle grub

Habitat

Typically found in virtually all terrestrial and freshwater habitats.

Range

Distributed across Japan, Norway, Sweden, and United States.

Elefante de Sabana

El elefante africano, el animal terrestre más grande de la Tierra, puede alcanzar 7.000 kg y habita sabanas, bosques y humedales del África subsahariana. Con estructuras sociales complejas lideradas por matriarcas, se comunica mediante infrasonidos, rugidos y contacto físico. Como ingeniero del ecosistema, modela su hábitat arrancando árboles, excavando aguadas y dispersando semillas. Está catalogado como Vulnerable, con poblaciones en declive por la caza furtiva de marfil y la pérdida de hábitat.

Common cattle grub

<em>Hypoderma lineatum</em>, commonly known as the common cattle grub, is a parasitic fly species with documented occurrences in Japan, Norway, Sweden, and the United States. It typically inhabited terrestrial and freshwater environments, often associated with cattle and other large ungulates on which its larvae develop as subcutaneous parasites. The species is classified as Extinct on the IUCN Red List, indicating that it is no longer known to exist in the wild. Common cattle grub belongs to the genus <em>Hypoderma</em> within the family Oestridae. Adult flies do not feed and are short-lived, while larvae burrow under the skin of host animals, causing a condition known as hypodermosis or warble fly infestation. The decline and extinction of this species has been linked to widespread and highly effective veterinary treatment programs targeting warble fly larvae in cattle, which drastically reduced host populations and ultimately eliminated the species. Biological traits such as average lifespan, body length, and mass of this species remain poorly documented in the scientific literature.