Facts About African Elephants: The African Elephant is one of the commonly seen Big Five animals during an African wildlife safari. There are two species of the African elephant including the African Savanna elephant and African Forest elephant.
The African Savanna Elephant.
An African Savanna elephant may reach 30 feet (9 meters) in length from trunk to tail, weigh more than 13,000 pounds (6 tons/5,442 kg), and stand as tall as 12 feet (4 meters) at the shoulder. The African Savanna elephant is listed as a threatened species.
The African Forest Elephant.
The Forest elephant is smaller than the African Savanna elephant, weighing roughly 5,950 pounds (2.7 tons/2,743 kg) and standing up to 8.2 ft. (2.5 meters) at the shoulder. The African Forest elephant is a critically endangered species.
Where are African Elephants Found?
African elephants (both species) may be found in the wild over much of Africa south of the Sahara. Elephants travel long distances in search of food and water. Mali’s desert elephants in Africa wander almost 300 miles each year, up to 35 kilometers per day, all in search of water. African Elephants can generally be found in Uganda, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania and even the Democratic Republic of Congo among other safari destinations.
How Big Are African Elephants?
The average automobile weighs 4000 pounds, while a one-story home stands 8 feet tall. An adult male African elephant was the biggest elephant ever recorded. He weighed roughly 24,000 pounds and was 13 feet tall at the shoulders. Elephants are the world’s biggest land-living animals.
How do African Elephants live in the wild?
Female elephants live their whole lives in big groupings known as herds. Male elephants leave their herds at the age of 13 and spend mostly lonely lives, occasionally joining loose-knit “bachelor herds” of other male elephants and departing at liberty to look for suitable mates.
Female elephants are referred to as “cows,” male elephants as “bulls,” and calves as infants. Depending on the terrain, temperature, and family size, a herd might range from 8 to 100 animals. Female herds are governed by “matriarchs,” who are frequently the group’s oldest and smartest females.
An elephant will only produce one calf at a time (twins are extremely unusual), and the mother and all other females in the herd, including aunts, grandmothers, and sisters, will nurture the youngster.
In the wild, an elephant will seldom have more than four children in her lifetime. Female elephants can start having kids at the age of 14 and can be pregnant for 22 months (the longest pregnancy of mammals).
The rock hyrax is the elephant’s closest surviving cousin.
Physical
Eyesight
Elephants’ eyes are tiny, and their peripheral vision is limited due to the position and size of their head and neck. Elephants are said to have weak eyesight, having a range of only 25 feet. In the shadow of a forest, this improves marginally, Facts About African Elephants.
Skin
The skin of an elephant is an inch thick in some places but very thin in others, such as behind their ears, beneath their legs (armpits), and around their eyes and rectum. Their skin is often irritated by bug bites. Asian elephants have more hair on their bodies than African elephants, especially young Asian elephants, who have a covering of reddish brown hair.
Teeth
Elephants have four molars, one on each side of the mouth, one on top and one on the bottom. One tooth may weigh up to 5 pounds and be the size of a brick.
Elephants have six sets of teeth throughout their lives, with old teeth replaced as they wear out from use. New teeth emerge from the rear of the mouth and progress forward to replace worn-out pairs. When an elephant’s teeth are worn down, it is unable to feed properly. Solitary elephants typically die of starvation, whereas herd elephants will assist in feeding starving members of their group.
Tail
The tail of an elephant can grow to be as long as 4.2 feet (1.3 meters) and is capped by a succession of very coarse, wire-like hair. They have amazing control over their tail movement and utilize it as a fly swatter against insects.
Ears
Asian elephants have substantially smaller ears than African elephants. Elephants have wide, narrow ears with a sophisticated network of blood arteries that aid in temperature regulation. In warmer areas, blood circulates through their ears to keep them cool.
African elephants frequently communicate visually through their ears. Flapping their ears might indicate either hostility or happiness.
An elephant can hear another elephant’s call from up to 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) away. Under optimum conditions, their hearing range may be extended to 6.2 miles (10 kilometers). Elephants have a keen sense of hearing and are thought to be capable of detecting sounds up to ten kilometers away.
African Elephants are intelligent?
Elephants have the biggest brain of any terrestrial animal, with a highly developed brain. Their brain is three to four times bigger than that of humans, despite being smaller in proportion to body weight. Elephants are exceptionally clever creatures with long-term memory. This memory assists matriarchs well during dry seasons when they must shepherd their herds, often for tens of kilometers, to drinking sites they recall from the past, Facts About African Elephants
Elephants are extremely sensitive and compassionate creatures. When a young elephant moans, the entire family rumbles and rushes around to stroke and caress it. Elephants use their trunks to convey pain, joy, compassion, self-awareness, generosity, and play.
Elephants honor their deceased by gently caressing their heads and tusks with their trunks and feet. When an elephant passes a location where a love one has died, he or she will halt and remain silent for many minutes. Elephants are among the rare animals who can identify themselves in a mirror. Humans, apes, orcas, dolphins, and, most recently, magpies are among the others.
Elephants can’t jump.
Only elephants are incapable of jumping. An incredible but true statistic is that an elephant’s shoulder height is double the size of his foot. Elephants generally walk at a pace of 4 mph, but have been reported reaching speeds of 25 mph. The typical human walks at 3 mph, whereas the average bicycle rider travels at 15 mph.
