African elephant vs

Loxodonta africana compared with Clostridium sporogenes

Key Differences

African elephant is Vulnerable while is Not Evaluated.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	African elephant
Kingdom	Animalia (สัตว์)	Bacteria (Bacteria)
Phylum	Chordata (สัตว์มีแกนสันหลัง)	Firmicutes_A
Class	Mammalia (สัตว์เลี้ยงลูกด้วยน้ำนม)	Clostridia (Clostridia)
Order	Proboscidea (อันดับช้าง)	Clostridiales (Clostridiales)
Family	Elephantidae (Elephants)	Clostridiaceae
Genus	Loxodonta (African Elephants)	Clostridium
Species	Loxodonta africana	Clostridium sporogenes

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.

Clostridium sporogenes is an anaerobic, endospore-forming bacterium in the family Clostridiaceae phylogenetically and morphologically closely related to C. botulinum type A but lacking the genes encoding botulinum neurotoxin. It is widely distributed in soil, sediments, and the gastrointestinal tracts of animals and humans, where it is considered a non-pathogenic member of the microbiome. The species epithet sporogenes refers to its characteristic production of abundant, conspicuous endospores. C. sporogenes is highly proteolytic, producing multiple proteases that break down proteins into amino acids and peptides, contributing to the decomposition of organic nitrogen in anaerobic environments. In food science, it serves as a surrogate organism in studies validating thermal processing conditions for low-acid canned foods — its heat-resistant spores are used as surrogates for C. botulinum in process safety testing without the biosafety concerns of using the toxigenic parent species. Research has also explored C. sporogenes as a vector for delivering anticancer prodrug-activating enzymes into hypoxic tumor microenvironments, exploiting its preferential germination in anaerobic tissue regions.