Biology Reference
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breeding with roan antelope and hybrids have been produced. From a core of pure bred sable
it is hoped that the species will be revived and restored to a vibrant population, like from one
bull named Ivan the Terrible for his aggressiveness. The other known group of long horned
sable live on a protected game farm in north western Zambia and some of these have been used
in breeding programs in South Africa too.
Etosha Elephants
Nambia Ghost Elephant
The world's largest elephants also used to occur here in southern Angola and now live in
the Etosha game reserve and Communal lands.
Indeed, elephants, apart from humans, are virtually the only species that can exist
horizontally across the northern Bushveld border of Southern Africa, from the Atlantic mouth
of the Cunene river, across to the Kavango border between Angola and Namibia, the Caprivi
strip between Botswana and Angola and Zambia, and then across to the rivers of the Zambezi,
lying along the north of Zimbabwe and the Limpopo river between South Africa and
Zimbabwe, and then following these two rivers to the their mouths on the Indian oceans. The
largest Angolan elephant ever shot was said to weigh 22,000 lbs. (11 tons) and was shot in the
1950s although later bigger ones were shot in Namibia. The elephant in the rotunda of the
Natural History Museum in Washington DC comes from the southern Angola Cuando area and
measures 13 feet 2 inches at the shoulder. When alive, it weighed 24,000 pounds, was 27'6''
from tip of trunk to tail and the foot circumference was 5'7”. The family of elephants in the
American Museum of Natural History in New York City are not as large and came from East
Africa and were collected and put on exhibition by the taxidermist Carl Akeley who also was
supported by Marshall Field for the collection at the Field Natural History Museum in
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