What a beautiful, special and fascinating creature!
It is smart, social and empathetic!
The elephant is the largest land mammal on earth, and play an important role in the environment where they live. Sadly this iconic species faces the biggest threats to its survival due to ivory poaching, human-wildlife conflict and habitat destruction.
There are two species : African elephant and Asian elephant.
The African elephant is slightly larger than the Asian elephant and it is recognized by much larger ears than its Asian counterpart.
(Photo: mondulkiriproject.org)
TYPE: Mammals
DIET: Herbivores
AFRICAN ELEPHANT:
Loxodonta africana
SIZE: 2,5 -4 m shoulder high
WEIGHT:
Average up to 6000kg
Average life span:
60-70 years
ASIAN ELEPHANT:
Elephas maximus
SIZE: 2,8 m shoulder high
WEIGHT:
Average up to 4000kg
Average life span: 48 years
On hot days they are cooling down by flapping their ears
- Elephants are fond of water and they often take a a bath on warm days.
- They also enjoy showering – spraying it all over themselves. Afterwards, they often spray their skin with a protective coating of dust.
- The trunk contains about 40,000 muscles.
- Elephants eat roots, grasses, fruit, and bark, and they eat a lot of these things. An adult elephant can consume up to 150 kg of food in a single day.
- They use the 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
- 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 – bulls, tend to roam on their own, sometimes forming smaller, more loosely associated all-male groups
- Elephants are pregnant for 22 months — it’s the longest gestation period of any mammal. They can have babies until they’re 50 years old.
Elephants with calves:
These photos are taken in Kruger National Park – from our tour in December 2019:
A very young calf – at The Kruger National Park!
Mother and child – crossing the road in front of us.
A herd – with big and small ones – crossing the road – on their way to a waterhole nearby.
Big lonely males..:
This big bull we met on the middle of a road in the Kruger Park. This was at our first big tour to South Africa in 2008. It made a big impression!
More photos of elephant herds, elephant drinking water, bathing, playing – from the Addo National Elephant Park. I have never seen so many elephants in any other game reserve.
