What kind of elephants live in africa

Elephants live up to around 70 years, with females mostly fertile between 25 and Males need to reach 20 years of age in order to successfully compete for mating. African elephants mainly eat leaves and branches of bushes and trees, but also eat grasses, fruit, and bark.

Helena St. Key Facts. Common name Common Name. Endangered Status Vulnerable More. Weight Weight Elephant males can weigh up to 6 tonnes. Latin name Scientific Name Loxodonta africana spp. Population Population , Did you know?

Age Elephants can live up to But they are now confined to a much smaller range. Savannah elephants occur in eastern and southern Africa, with the highest densities found in Botswana, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Zambia and South Africa. The forest elephant is found in the equatorial rainforest zone of west and central Africa, where relatively large blocks of dense forest still remain. Back in the early part of the 20th century, there may have been as many as million African elephants.

But there are now around , Most countries in West Africa count their forest elephants in tens or hundreds, with animals scattered in small blocks of isolated forest. In contrast, savannah elephant populations in parts of southern Africa are large and expanding, with almost , elephants now roaming across the sub-region. Significant elephant populations are now confined to well-protected areas.

Threats Despite a ban on the international trade in ivory, African elephants are still being poached in large numbers. Their ivory tusks are the most sought after, but their meat and skin are also traded. Tens of thousands of elephants are killed every year for their tusks. The ivory is often carved into ornaments and jewellery — China is the biggest consumer market for such products. Elephants can live for up to 70 years in the wild, so being part of a group is important to them.

Baby Elephant Facts Baby elephants are cute - there are no two ways about that. But, they are also highly evolved and one of the most advanced species when it comes to their new born capabilities. A baby elephant is called a calf and can weigh around lbs 91 kg and stand about 3 feet 1 m tall. They can't see very well when they are born, but much like human babies, they can recognise their mothers by touch, scent, and sound. For the first few months, the babies stay very close to their mothers for food, warmth and support.

They are hungry little things too, and can consume as much as 3 gallons of their mothers milk every day. Weaning is not a speedy process for elephants either, as babies can continue to drink their mothers milk until they are as much as 10 years old. Luckily, the female elephant community is social and supportive, with young calves being tended to not only by their mothers, but also by other females in the herd.

When a new baby is born, all of the females in the group trumpet the news and announce the new arrival. Within minutes of being born, the calf must stand on its own four feet, literally. Calves need to be upright in order to reach their mothers milk, otherwise they will perish.

For the first year of their lives, their trunks are not something they are able to control very well. Much like human babies, elephants learn their behaviour from parents and older family member, including how to put their trunks to good use. Much more so than other animals, elephant babies exclusively learn how to adapt to their new surroundings by following the behaviour of their mothers over a long period of time.

This means that they stay close to their parents and family members for much of their childhood. Their Asian contemporaries can be found in Nepal, India and Southeast Asia in scrub forests and rain forests. Elephants are mighty beasts, and they have evolved to survive perfectly well in hot, arid conditions. They are herbivores, meaning that they eat leaves, roots, fruits and grasses but do not eat the meat of other animals.

They are the gentle vegetarian giants of the African Savannahs and can be found wandering through as many as 37 countries on the African continent. Elephants stamp and dig into dry stream beds or other spots to uncover water that is lurking below the surface.

They often create very large holes by digging with their feet, trunks and tusks, working until they reach an adequate supply of water for them all to share. Their sheer size along makes them hard for predators to eat, such as leopards, lions, or jaguars.

At night, the adults form a circle around the calves to protect them from danger. They also have thick skin, making it hard to bite. Africa is also home to Forest Elephants who have uniquely adapted to live in the forest habitat of the Congo Basin.

These elephants have evolved to survive in their own habitat and are smaller in size, making them better suited to life in the lush rainforest conditions. Sadly, it is the forest elephants of Africa that are more at risk from the threat of poachers than any other, and their numbers continue to steadily decline. Facts about Elephant Size African elephants are the largest land animals in the world today. The largest African elephant ever recorded was found in Angola, rocking in at a massive 24, lb 11, kg , with a shoulder height of 3.

The average African elephant will grow to between 8. Male elephants can grow to be significantly larger than their female counterparts. Both genders grow ivory tusks, which are actually elongated incisor teeth. However, the male's tusks are longer and heavier, weighing between and pounds each. Females' tusks weigh approximately 40 pounds each. African elephants are famous for their very large ears. Considered to be shaped much like the continent of Africa itself, the large surface area of their ears helps to keep them cool in the blazing hot African sun.

Indian Elephant Facts Whilst we love and support our elephants here on the African continent, their brothers and sister in Asia also deserve our recognition. Asian or Indian elephants look different to our African species, but effectively are still the same gentle giants loved the world over. Indian elephants tend to be smaller in stature than African elephants and have adapted to live in the lush, wet and humid conditions of tropical Asia.

The shape of their heads and the size of their ears also makes Asian elephants easy to identify. African elephants have fuller, more rounded heads. The top of the head is a single dome, whereas Asian elephants have a twin-domed head with an indent in the middle.

The lower lips of the two species also differ, being long and tapered in Asian elephants and short and round in African elephants. All African elephants have tusks, whereas only some male Asian elephants have tusks, with females not having them at all. It is said that African elephants have ears shaped like a map of Africa, whilst Asian elephants have smaller ears shaped like a map of India.

Whilst this may or may not be exactly the case, Asian elephants do have smaller ears as they do not rely on bigger ears to shade them from the hot African sun. Asian Elephants Under Threat Whilst our African elephants are most at risk from poaches and the Ivory trade in general, the greatest threat to Asian elephants is the potential loss of habitat as forests are cleared to make way for dams, tea and coffee plantations, roads, and railway lines.

Frequently asked questions Where do elephants come from? There are three species of elephants in the world, and where each one can be found depends on the species. In Africa, there are two species of elephant. The loxodonta africana African elephant lives in the African Savannah and in the Sahel desert in Mali. This is the biggest species of elephant in the world. The slightly smaller loxodonta cyclotis African elephant lives in the rainforests of Central and West Africa.

The elephas maixmus species of elephant Asian elephant can be found in Nepal, India and Southeast Asia in scrub forests and rain forests. How many elephants are there in Africa and why are African elephants endangered? There are now only an estimated , African elephants left in the wild. African elephants range throughout the savannas of sub-Saharan Africa and the rainforests of Central and West Africa.

The small, nomadic herd of Mali elephants migrates in a circular route through the desert in search of water. 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. 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 pounds and stand about three feet tall. Before the Europeans began colonizing Africa, there may have been as many as 26 million elephants. By the early 20th century, their numbers had dropped to 10 million.

Hunting continued to increase. By , their numbers were down to 1. Between and , hunting and poaching put the African elephant at risk of extinction, reducing its population by another half. In the years since, poaching has continued to threaten both species: Savanna elephants declined by 30 percent between and , while forest elephants declined by 64 percent from to as poaching worsened in Central and West Africa.

In , the International Union for Conservation of Nature recognized them as separate species for the first time , listing savanna elephants as endangered and forest elephants as critically endangered. As few as , remain today.

Compounding the problem is how long it takes for elephants to reproduce. With reproduction rates hovering around 5 to 6 percent , there are simply not enough calves being born to make up for the losses from poaching.

African elephants are also losing their habitat as the human population grows and people convert land for agriculture and development. Elephants need a lot of room, so habitat destruction and fragmentation not only makes it harder for them to find food, water, and each other, but it also puts them in increased conflict with humans.

The decision to recognize African elephants as two separate species is seen as an important step for conservation, as it highlights the different challenges that each species faces. Scientists hope that the listing will bring more attention to forest elephants, which have often been overlooked by governments and donors when grouped together with more visible savanna elephants.

African elephants are protected to varying degrees in all the countries of their geographic range. There have been recent efforts to bring re-legalize the international trade in ivory, but those so far have failed.

Conservation groups and governments have worked to set aside land for wildlife— including corridors that connect those protected lands. Still, researchers believe that up to 70 percent of elephants' range is on unprotected land. To curb poaching, stopping the illegal trade is key. Advocates have launched campaigns that address both the supply side poaching and the demand side people who buy ivory.

Since the ban went into effect, public demand for ivory seems to have fallen. On the supply side, protecting elephants from poaching also requires a local approach.