They are the world’s largest terrestrial mammal. There are two recognized subspecies of this iconic animal: bush (or savanna) and forest. African bush elephants are the larger of the two and their tusks curve out, while their forest-dwelling cousins are darker and have tusks that are straighter and that point downward.
- Diet
- Elephants eat roots, grasses, fruit, and bark. An adult elephant can consume up to 300 pounds of food in a single day. These hungry animals do not sleep much, roaming great distances while foraging for the large quantities of food that they require to sustain their massive bodies.
- African elephants range throughout the savannas of sub-Saharan Africa and the rainforests of Central and West Africa. The continent’s northernmost elephants are found in Mali’s Sahel Desert. The small, nomadic herd of Mali elephants migrates in a circular route through the desert in search of water.
- Because elephants eat so much, they’re increasingly coming into contact with humans. An elephant can destroy an entire season of crops in a single night. A number of conservation programs work with farmers to help them protect their crops and provide compensation when an elephant does raid them.
- Elephant ears radiate heat to help keep these large animals cool, but sometimes the African heat is too much. Elephants are fond of water and enjoy showering by sucking water into their trunks and spraying it all over themselves. Afterwards, they often spray their skin with a protective coating of dust.
- Trunks & Tusks
- An elephant's trunk is actually a long nose used for smelling, breathing, trumpeting, drinking, and also for grabbing things—especially a potential meal. The trunk alone contains about 40,000 muscles. African elephants have two fingerlike features on the end of their trunk that they can use to grab small items. (Asian elephants have just one.)
- Both male and female African elephants have tusks, which are continuously growing teeth. Savanna elephants have curving tusks, while the tusks of forest elephants are straight. They use these tusks to dig for food and water and strip bark from trees. Males, whose tusks tend to be larger than females', also use their tusks to battle one another.
- Herds
- Elephants are matriarchal, meaning they live in female-led groups. The matriarch is usually the biggest and oldest. She presides over a multi-generational herd that includes other females, called cows, and their young. Adult males, called bulls, tend to roam on their own, sometimes forming smaller, more loosely associated all-male groups.
- Having a baby elephant is a serious commitment. Elephants have a longer pregnancy than any other mammal—almost 22 months. Cows usually give birth to one calf every two to four years. At birth, elephants already weigh some 200 pounds and stand about three feet tall.
Credits:
Created with images by Curioso.Photography - "Huge African elephant bull in the Tarangire National Park, Tanza" • Patrick Rolands - "black and white portrait of an elephant and her baby" • Mat Hayward - "Wild Elephant in East Africa" • Jo - "Dramatic profile of African elephant in Kenya" • Gunter - "A herd of elephants ( Loxodonta Africana) walking on the road towards the camera, Pilanesberg National Park, South Africa." • Tom - "Bull elephant in QE National Park; Uganda" • adogslifephoto - "African Elephant Front View Isolated" • Travelvolo - "African elephant in the water of Zambezi river at sunset. Chobe National Park, Botswana - Africa" • Bob - "A lone african elephant and a acacia tree in the spring, green grass on the Maasai Mara savannah, Kenya, Africa." • juanjo - "elephant and sunset" • Bob - "A lone african elephant and a acacia tree in the spring, green grass on the Maasai Mara savannah, Kenya, Africa." • henk bogaard - "Close encounter with an Elephant bull walking in Zimanga Game Reserve in Kwa Zulu Natal in South Africa"