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Elephant speaking loud & clear in Kruger Park, South Africa

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Elephant Natural Habitat

Elephants are able to survive in a variety of different locations because of the huge variety of food sources that they consume. Many people assume that elephants that are in the wild only live in the grasslands. While that is one of their main habitats, they can also be found in the desert of the Savannah, forest areas, where there are swamps, and everything in between.

They form emigrational paths that they continue to follow year after year. This allows them to take advantage of the foods that grow in various areas. The paths that they walk are clearly there just like a road and they are fascinating to see when you are looking at areas that don't have any clear pathways other than these from the elephants as they roam around.

Today most of the elephants remaining in Africa live in National Parks. These areas have been put in place to help give them plenty of room to survive. They are also well protected in these locations to help the population count rise. However, this can be stressful for the elephants as they love the ability to freely roam. They also love to play and to bathe in water so they don't mind traveling long distances to find it.

One of the reasons why elephants have been able to survive for so long in the wild has to do with their high level of intelligence. While they do have their natural habitat where they want to be, they also have the mentality to know when they have to move on and they have to adjust to new habitats in order to continue to survive.

They don't have predators other than humans so when they do move to new habitats being able to find adequate supplies of food is the one thing that they have to worry about. If they can find it, then they will likely be able to thrive there.

One of the biggest threats to elephants in the wild is the continually destruction of their natural habitat. This gives them less room to roam in order to find adequate supplies of food. They can consume more than 50 tons of food per day so they need quite a selection of it to choose from. When they are limited to certain locations though they can completely wipe out the vegetation there. As a result it will be difficult for it to grow back.

When elephants can freely roam though in their natural habitat they actually do lots of good for the environment. They clear away trees and plants so that new forms of vegetation can grow there. It is due to humans clearing away their natural habitat though that they are struggling out there in the wild. Even with some great conservation efforts in place they remain in serious jeopardy of losing their natural habitat.

The habitat for elephants in captivity is a far cry from what they experience in the wild. Most zoos offer them a generous amount of room to roam but it is nothing like what they would have in the wild. Still, they have plenty of water and food so they don't need to travel for those reasons. They are also offered plenty of toys so that they don't become bored.

When they are in a circus setting they are living in even worse conditions. They are often chained up and forced to stand still in small cages. This can lead to a great deal of stress for elephants. They are instinctively driven to be able to move at their own leisure.
References
http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/12392/0

http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/7140/0

https://seaworld.org/en/animal-info/animal-infobooks/elephants/habitat-and-distribution

Raman Sukumar. The Living Elephants: Evolutionary Ecology, Behaviour, and Conservation. Oxford University Press, 2003.

R. Sukumar. The Asian Elephant: Ecology and Management. Cambridge University Press, 1992.

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Elephants are able to survive in a variety of different locations because of the huge variety of food sources that they consume. Many people assume that elephants that are in the wild only live in the grasslands.

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The elephants ( Elephantidae) are the largest living land mammals on earth and we have gathered interesting elephants facts for kids. They are powerful enough to knock down whole trees. Elephants are recognized by their large trunks (proboscis) and are believed to have appeared some 3 - 4 million years ago. Elephants are exclusively herbivorous and they feel home in savanna, forests, and semi-deserts. They are found in Africa south of the Sahara, as well as southern and southeastern Asia.

Elephant Facts for Kids

Physical Characteristics of Elephant

At birth elephants weigh around 200-265 lb (90-120 kg). They have a consistent growth until reach adulthood which is unique in mammals.

Females stop growing at 25 - 30 years while males cease at 35 - 45 years.

The adult elephants weigh 3.3 - 7.7 tons ranging from female Asian elephant to as large as large African savanna bull.

The shoulder height averages 7.2-11.8 ft (2.2-3.6 m).

It has an unusually large head on a short neck. They have powerful short legs that lift the entire body weight like a pillar in a house.

Elephant has a long tail that extends below the knee.

They have large and thin ears along with an extremely sensitive trunk. The elephant's trunk does not have any bone. It is composed of muscles. There around 150,000 muscle units in its trunk.

These tusks can be as large as 79 in (200 cm) of a large bull elephant. It grows 6 in (15 cm) a year. The tusk weighs at 110 lb (50 kg). These are the figures of a large bull elephant.

Read More: Are Elephants Endangered?
Elephant Distribution

Previously African elephant used to live in the North Africa up to the Mediterranean coast but they are limited to the south of Sahara.

Similarly Asian elephants are known to occupy much of the Near East and Pacific coast of China but are not restricted to the forests of Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia.

Elephant Habitat
Read More: What Do Elephants Eat?

Elephants make home in a variety of habitats including tropical and subtropical zones. Their habitat ranges from dry deciduous forests, savannas (such as mixed woodland and grassland mosaics), semi-deserts, and evergreen rainforests.

Elephants are normally mixed feeders as they feed on many different plants.

Elephants are dominant in regions where they live. They have an important ecological role.

They have got the habit of destroying trees. In Africa, elephants seem to transfer wooded areas into open grasslands.

Elephant Behavior

Elephants live in family unit consisting of 3 - 25 individuals. Each unit is composed of related females and their young. Within the family, each female is closely related to each other they remain bonded for lives. Adult males, however fancy living a solitary life and they rarely make bonds with other males.

The adult males remain in the family unit until 12 - 15 years of age. Although they do come back in groups for mating but they may never last long within a unit.

Among adult females, older ones are normally responsible for looking after the group and guarding it against any potential threat.

The calves stay with their mother almost all the time. All the group members contribute (and not just its mother) to upbringing these calves.

If a predator shows up the adult females wheel round to face the threat while keeping the young close behind.

During migration, extremely large herds comprising of 500 - 1,000 elephants are seen. However, the individuality of each group is maintained.

They are highly intelligent animals with complex social interactions.

Elephants wrestle each other with their trunks.

Male elephants often find themselves in a state known as 'musth'.

They have poor eyesight but they are extremely sensitive to taste and smell.

Elephants have sharp hearing and they communicate through many different vocalizations. African elephants produce 25 unique calls that are unique to human ear. These calls are audible to other elephants over a range of up to 3 mi (5 km).

Elephants have a lifespan of 60 years and they may die out of starvation, disease, predation, and injury.

Elephants have a unique behavior in that they circle around any wounded animal to prevent further attack. Sometimes they lift the wounded animal to its feet and take it away to the safe place.

Contrary to popular belief that elephants visit their graveyard (when they are about to die) i.e. a place where they go and last their breath, is nothing but a myth.

Elephants are not territorial animals. Although the groups do mark their territories but they seldom defend it against their counterparts. Their territories often overlap with each other.

Elephants lie down when they are asleep. They remain asleep for 2 - 4 hours early in the morning. During summer, elephants are likely to stand under shades with their eyes closed but they do not actually sleep while standing. It's a sort of dozing.

Elephants do move around and they often leave their trails on the ground which are 3-6 ft (1-2 m) wide, and can extend for tens of miles (kilometers).

They cannot jump or even gallop but they do walk or amble. They walk at a speed of 1.6-8.2 ft (0.5-2.5 m) per second, or 1.2-6.2 mph (2-10 kph). Elephants are able to charge at a speed of 16 ft (5 m) per second, or 12.4 mph (20 kph).

Elephants are highly attentive while walking in that they place each foot with care to avoid any soft patch.

They are expert swimmers too as they paddle with all four feet and a trunk.

Elephant Diet

Elephants typically feed on a wide range of plants such as herbs (forbs), broadleaved trees, grasses, vines, and palms.

They will consume almost each part of the plant including twigs, bark, leaves, shoots, flowers, tubers, branches, fruit, bulbs, and roots.

They are known to consume 100 - 500 different plant species but they focus on a few species in a given time.

Elephants change their dietary requirements with the change in season. During rainy season, they fancy eating new growth grasses which makes up 50 - 60% of the diet. In the dry season, elephants mostly browse as grass becomes tough. During this time, fruits and shrubs make up 70% of the elephant's diet.

Elephants living in Asia are more apt to feed on bamboo year-round whereas those living in central Africa and Malaysia primarily feeds on fruits and succulent leaves.

Elephants consume 220-660 lb (100-300 kg) food each day.

They remain busy in eating 12 - 18 hours a day mostly in the early hours of morning or late afternoon.

In forest where food is abundant the elephants move gradually while browsing on several plants.

They drink 53 gal (200 l) of water every day in summer. When the water becomes inadequate elephants dig holes with their trunk or even tusks until the water seeps in.

Elephants are more likely to feed on plants or fruits when these are readily available. They use smell and memory from the past to identify plants species.

They travel great distances in search of food and water. Elephants have a home range of 23 mi2 (60 km2) in a rich rainforest habitat in Malaysia, while in the Namib Desert the range is 1,158 mi2 (3,000 km2).

Elephants pluck small plants with the terminal 'fingers' of the trunk whereas the larger items are usually twisted by curling the trunk around it.

Elephants can also stand on their rear legs (only) especially when they have to reach high branches of young leaves of acacia trees. They can reach up to 26 ft (8 m). Elephants push over trees as well.

Elephant Reproductive Biology

Elephant's reproduction is slow in that the female gives birth for 4 - 5 years only. Twins are unlikely as 1 out of every 100 births end up in twins.

It also takes quite a long time for a young elephant to reach adulthood.

Females become mature at 12 - 14 years of age. They are called 'cows' while males are known as 'bulls'.

The gestation period lasts for 22 months.

References
Elephant Conservation Status

Elephants have long been the subject of hunting and habitat destruction. Their ivory is primarily used for several commercial purposes and it is a precious commodity.

Gone are the days when elephants used to roam around freely in a wide range. Now they are limited within human settlement and agriculture.

Human population is growing from time to time as a result of which elephants are no longer found in their natural habitats.

At present, one can only come across elephants in national parks, nature reserves, and the like. Although they are captive in large numbers yet their future prospects associated with the survival remains bleak.

The practice of elephant's hunting has been carried out in prehistoric times and still it continues. Elephants found in southern and West Africa had already died out in 1800.

The 1970s and 1980s turned out to be even more critical in that the total population in Africa had reduced from 1.3 million in 1979 to just over 400,000 in 1987.

Some elephants have often been in conflict with humans as they damage buildings and kill villagers.

There are around 34,000 - 54,000 Asian elephants left in the wild while in captivity the figures are 13,000 - 16,000. Current estimates of total population size of African elephants are 300,000 - 500,000 animals.

Buss, Irven O. Elephant Life: Fifteen Years of High Population Density. Ames IA: Iowa State University Press, 1990.

Eltringham, S.K., ed. The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Elephants. New York: Crescent Books, 1991.

Maglio, Vincent J. "Origin and Evolution of the Elephantidae." Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 63, no. 2 (1973): 1-149.

Shoshani, Jeheskel, and Pascal Tassy, eds. The Proboscidea: Evolution and Palaeoecology of Elephants and their Relatives. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.

Elephant Facts For Kids | Videos

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Elephant Facts For Kids | Elephant Habitat & Diet

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The elephants ( Elephantidae) are the largest living land mammals on earth and we have gathered interesting elephants facts for kids. They are powerful enough to knock down whole trees. Elephants are recognized by their large trunks (proboscis) and are believed to have appeared some 3 - 4 million years ago.

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African Elephants can be found in Kruger Park, South Africa.

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As the world’s largest land mammal, elephants have quite the commanding presence. But did you know elephants can’t jump? Or that baby elephants lose their first set of teeth and tusks, just like humans? Learn about both Asian and African elephants and the threats facing these highly intelligent anim…

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Most Funny and Cute Baby Elephant Videos Compilation

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(Image credit: Elephant image <a href="http://www.shutterstock.com">Shutterstock</a>)

Elephants are the largest land animals on Earth, and they're one of the most unique-looking animals, too. With their characteristic long noses, or trunks; large, floppy ears; and wide, thick legs, there is no other animal with a similar physique.

Most experts recognize two species of elephant: the Asian elephant ( Elephas maximus) and the African elephant ( Loxodonta africana), who live on separate continents and have many unique features. There are several subspecies that belong to one or the other of these two main species, though experts argue over how many subspecies there are and whether or not they constitute separate species, according to the San Diego Zoo.

African and Asian elephants

African elephants live in sub-Saharan Africa, the rainforests of Central and West Africa and the Sahel desert in Mali, according to National Geographic. Asian elephants live in Nepal, India and Southeast Asia in scrub forests and rainforests. [ Elephant Images: The Biggest Beasts on Land]

African elephants are the larger of the two species. They grow to between 8.2 and 13 feet (2.5 and 4 meters) tall at the shoulder and weigh 5,000 to 14,000 lbs. (2,268 to 6,350 kilograms), according to National Geographic (opens in new tab). Asian elephants are just a little smaller, growing to between 6.6 and 9.8 feet (2 and 3 m) tall at the shoulder and weighing between 4,500 and 11,000 lbs. (2,041 and 4,990 kg). In the wild, African elephants can live up to 70 years, and Asian elephants up to 60 years.

African and Asian elephants also have a few different physical features.

The ears of African elephant are larger and resemble the shape of the African continent, while Asian elephants have smaller, rounder ears, according to the San Diego Zoo.

Both male and female African elephants have large tusks and two "fingers" on the end of their trunks to help them pick items up. Asian elephants have a single "finger" on the end of their trucks. But typically, only male Asian elephants will grow large tusks, while the females and a few males have much smaller tusks called tushes that don't always grow outside the mouth.

Tusks are large, deeply rooted teeth that evolved to assist the elephant in digging, lifting, gathering food, and defense while also protecting the trunk, according to World Wildlife Fund. In the same way that humans tend to be right-handed or left-handed, elephants can be right-tusked or left-tusked. Their dominant tusk is easy to identify, because it will be more worn down than the less dominant tusk, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

Both species eat all types of vegetation, including a variety of grasses, fruits, leaves, bark and roots. They spend about about 16 hours eating, consuming anywhere from 165 to 330 lbs. (75 to 150 kg) of food per day, according to the San Diego Zoo.

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

Elephant life

Groups of elephants, or herds, follow a matriarchal structure with the eldest female in charge. Herds are composed of primarily female family members and young calves, according to the San Diego Zoo, and include 6 to 20 members depending on the food supply. When the family gets too large, herds often split into smaller groups that stay within the same area.

The matriarch relies on her experience and memory to recall where the best spots for food, water are, and where to find protection from the elements. The matriarch is also responsible for teaching the younger members of her family how to socialize with other elephants.

Elephants are very social and can communicate with one another and identify other elephants from distances of up to 2 miles using rumbling, low-pitched sounds that fall below the audible range of humans, according to the National Zoo.

Elephants readily show good manners to members within its herd and other herds, according to the San Diego Zoo. For example, they use their trunks to greet one another, either by holding it out high or by inserting the end of their trunk into another elephant's mouth.

Elephants also pay close attention to the well-being of all the members of their herd, and will do what they can to take care of and protect weak or injured members.

They're considered an extremely intelligent species, and have been observed showing advanced problem-solving skills and demonstrating empathy, mourning and self-awareness, according to an article in Scientific American.

(Image credit: Mark Wright/University of Hawaii Mānoa)

Next generation

Male and female elephants become sexually mature between 8 and 13 years of age. Male elephants will leave their herd around this time, as long as they're able to find their own food and protect themselves, according to the Smithsonian National Zoo. Adult males either live on their own or in small bachelor herds.

Females may not have their first calf until their middle teen years, while males may not father a calf until they are in their 30s, when they are large and strong enough to compete with other males, according to the National Zoo.

Usually, only a single calf is born following a 22-month pregnancy. A newborn calf weighs between 150 and 350 lbs. (68 and 158 kg) stands about 3 feet tall. Calves also tend to be hairy with long tails and very short trunks.

Elephant calves grow quickly, gaining 2 to 3 lbs. every day in their first year, according to the San Diego Zoo. By the time they are 2 or 3 years old, calves are ready to be weaned.

(Image credit: Chintan Mehta/Shutterstock)

Classification/Taxonomy

All elephants are mammals belonging to the elephantidae family. There are two subspecies of the African elephant: the savanna (or bush) elephant ( Loxodonta africana) and the forest elephant ( Loxodonta cyclotis). However, forest elephants may in fact be a distinct species of elephant instead of a subspecies, according to Cornell University.

There are three subspecies of Asian elephant: the Indian elephant ( Elephas maximus indicus), the Sri Lankan elephant ( Elephas maximus maximus), and the Sumatran elephant ( Elephas maximus sumatranus). Another possible subspecies is Elephas maximus borneensis (Borneo pygmy elephant). The World Wildlife Fund has determined that DNA evidence suggests that the Borneo pygmy elephant is genetically different from other Asian elephants.

Conservation status

The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) classifies the Asian elephant as endangered. Though it is not known exactly how many Asian elephants remain, experts believe that the population is decreasing.

The African elephant is considered vulnerable, according to the IUCN, and the species' population is increasing. According to the African Wildlife Foundation, there are around 415,000 African elephants in the wild.

Threats against the survival of both African and Asian elephants include poaching and habitat loss, according to World Wildlife Fund.
Additional resources: This article was updated on March 18, 2019, by Live Science Contributor Rachel Ross.

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Elephants: Earth's Largest Living Land-Animals

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(Image credit: Elephant image Shutterstock ) Elephants are the largest land animals on Earth, and they're one of the most unique-looking animals, too. With their characteristic long noses, or trunks; large, floppy ears; and wide, thick legs, there is no other animal with a similar physique.