Final answer:
Elephants have 28 pairs of homologous chromosomes in each somatic cell. In prophase I, there are 28 bivalents and 56 sister chromatids per cell. In prophase II, there are 56 sister chromatids per cell. At the conclusion of meiosis I, there are 28 chromosomes per cell.
Step-by-step explanation:
In each somatic elephant cell, there are 28 pairs of homologous chromosomes. This is because a diploid cell contains two sets of chromosomes, and since elephants have 56 chromosomes, there are 28 pairs.
In prophase I of meiosis, homologous chromosomes pair up to form bivalents. Since there are 28 pairs of homologous chromosomes, there will be 28 bivalents per cell.
In prophase I of meiosis, each homologous chromosome consists of two sister chromatids. Since each diploid cell has 56 chromosomes, there will be a total of 56 sister chromatids per cell during prophase I.
In prophase II of meiosis, the sister chromatids separate, so there will be one sister chromatid per chromosome. Thus, there will be 56 sister chromatids per cell during prophase II.
During the conclusion of meiosis I, the homologous chromosomes separate, resulting in two cells, each with half the number of chromosomes. Therefore, there will be 28 chromosomes per cell at the conclusion of meiosis I.