African elephant vs Common Male Fern

Loxodonta africana compared with Dryopteris filix-mas

Key Differences

African elephant is Vulnerable while Common Male Fern is Least Concern.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	African elephant	Common Male Fern
Kingdom	Animalia (動物)	Plantae (植物)
Phylum	Chordata (脊索動物)	Tracheophyta
Class	Mammalia (哺乳類)	Polypodiopsida (ウラボシ綱)
Order	Proboscidea (ゾウ目)	Polypodiales (ウラボシ目)
Family	Elephantidae (Elephants)	Dryopteridaceae
Genus	Loxodonta (African Elephants)	Dryopteris
Species	Loxodonta africana	Dryopteris filix-mas

Conservation Status

African elephant

VU — Vulnerable

Population: ~415.0K

Trend: Decreasing ↓

Common Male Fern

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	African elephant	Common Male Fern
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.

Common Male Fern

Habitat

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

Range

Widely distributed across Europe (7 countries), North America (United States), Oceania and the Pacific (New Zealand), and South America (Chile).

African elephant

地球上最大の陸上動物であるアフリカゾウは体重7,000 kgに達し、サハラ以南のサバンナ、森林、湿地に生息する。成熟した雌が群れを率いる高度に知的な社会構造を持ち、超低周波音やうなり声、接触によって意思疎通する。木を引き倒したり水飲み場を掘ったり種子を散布したりすることで生態系を形成するエンジニア種だが、象牙の密猟や生息地の喪失により個体数は減少しており、危急（VU）とされている。

Common Male Fern

<em>Dryopteris filix-mas</em>, the common male fern, is a robust, semi-evergreen fern in the family Dryopteridaceae, widely distributed across Europe, North America, Oceania, and South America. It is classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List. This species typically grows in moist, shaded forest floors, hedgebanks, rocky slopes, and stream margins, preferring acidic to neutral soils in temperate environments. The common male fern produces large, pinnate fronds that can reach over one metre in length, arising from a central crown of scaly rhizomes. It is one of the most familiar ferns of the Northern Hemisphere and has been used medicinally for centuries, with extracts historically employed as an anthelmintic to treat tapeworm infections. The species reproduces via spores produced in kidney-shaped sori arranged in rows on the undersides of fertile fronds. Common male fern plays an important role in forest ecosystems, providing shelter and habitat structure for invertebrates and small vertebrates across its broad temperate range.