Elefante de Sabana vs trébol de cuatro hojas

Loxodonta africana compared with Marsilea quadrifolia

Key Differences

Elefante de Sabana is Vulnerable while trébol de cuatro hojas is Not Evaluated.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Elefante de Sabana	trébol de cuatro hojas
Kingdom	Animalia (Animals)	Plantae (planta)
Phylum	Chordata (cordados)	Tracheophyta
Class	Mammalia (mamíferos)	Polypodiopsida (Polypodiopsida)
Order	Proboscidea (Elephants)	Salviniales (Salviniales)
Family	Elephantidae (Elephants)	Marsileaceae
Genus	Loxodonta (African Elephants)	Marsilea
Species	Loxodonta africana	Marsilea quadrifolia

Conservation Status

Elefante de Sabana

VU — Vulnerable

Population: ~415.0K

Trend: Decreasing ↓

trébol de cuatro hojas

NE — Not Evaluated

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Elefante de Sabana	trébol de cuatro hojas
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.

trébol de cuatro hojas

Habitat

Typically found in moist, shaded forest floors and tropical canopies.

Range

Widely distributed across Asia (India, Vietnam), Europe (5 countries), and North America (Canada, 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.

trébol de cuatro hojas

<em>Marsilea quadrifolia</em>, commonly known as the common water clover or European waterclover, is an aquatic fern in the family Marsileaceae. Its conservation status is listed as Not Evaluated by the IUCN. The species has a broad native distribution spanning Asia and Europe, and has been introduced to North America, where it now occurs in scattered freshwater habitats. It typically grows in shallow ponds, rice paddies, slow-moving streams, and muddy lake margins, rooting in soft sediments while its four-leaflet fronds float on or emerge above the water surface. The distinctive four-lobed leaves strongly resemble a four-leaf clover, lending the plant its common name. <em>Marsilea quadrifolia</em> is a heterosporous fern, producing specialized reproductive structures called sporocarps that contain both megaspores and microspores, allowing reproduction under conditions unfavorable for vegetative growth. The plant is remarkably drought-tolerant, as sporocarps can remain viable for decades. It typically spreads through both vegetative rhizome growth and spore dispersal. Biological traits including average lifespan, height, and mass remain poorly documented in standardized databases. The species plays a role in shallow aquatic ecosystems as a colonizing plant, stabilizing soft substrates and providing microhabitat for invertebrates and small vertebrates in the temperate freshwater zones it inhabits.