Animal Corner

Discover the many amazing animals that live on our planet.

  • Home
  • A-Z Animals
  • Anatomy
  • Glossary
  • Animal Lists
    • Animal By Letter
    • Animals by Location
    • Mammals
    • Birds
    • Reptiles
    • Amphibians
  • Free Resources
    • Animal Coloring Pages
    • Animal Jokes
    • Animal Quizzes
  • Pets
    • Dog Breeds
    • Rabbit Breeds
    • Cat Breeds
    • Pet Rodents
    • Animal Care
  • Blog
You are here: Home / Animals / Elephants

Elephants

Image Source

The word Elephant in latin (as ‘ele’ and ‘phant’) means the ‘Huge Arch’. Most elephants live in the grasslands of Africa and in the forests of Asia although elephants can live in nearly any habitat that has adequate quantities of food and water. Elephants live in groups called ‘herds’. The herd is usually made up of ten females and their young.

All of the females in the herd are directly related to the matriarch, who is typically the oldest and largest female. There are two species of elephant – the African elephant and the Asian elephant. The African is the larger of the two and weighs up to 6 tons. Regardless of where elephants live, their social behaviours and social structures remain largely the same. The African elephant and the Asian elephant are the only two surviving species of what was in prehistoric times a diverse and populous group of large mammals. While Asian elephants and African elephants have a lot in common, they differ slightly in appearance and each faces different threats to its survival.

The elephant is the largest animal that lives on land. Elephants are warm-bloodied mammals and members of the ‘Pachyderm’ species which means ‘thick-skinned animals’. Elephants form the family ‘Elephantidae’. Male elephants can grow to be 13 feet tall. That is more than twice as tall as 2 tall human beings. Elephants can weigh as much as a single decker bus – between 10 and 14 thousand pounds.

Elephant Behaviour

Elephants are amazing creatures. They cry, play, laugh and have incredible memories. Elephants are sensitive to fellow animals where even if a baby elephant complains, the entire family of elephants will rumble and go over to touch and care for it.

Male elephants beyond the age of maturity are with the herd only during mating. Herds have been known to travel ten miles or more to look for food and water. When elephants travel, they walk very quietly in single file. Young elephants (calves) are led by the older elephants with their tails. Elephant calves stay close to their mothers at all times. The entire herd will protect the young ones if there is any sign of danger. A herd ambles along at about 4 miles per hour and can charge at more than 25 miles per hour. Elephants cannot run or jump. They can however, walk very fast and climb.

Elephants smell, drink, eat and wash themselves with their long trunks. Elephants have tusks that are long teeth made of ivory. Their tusks help them get food and carry heavy objects. All elephants do not have tusks. Only the male Asian elephants have tusks whereas the male and female African elephants both have tusks.

Elephants love water and are very good swimmers. When elephants get hot, they swim in lakes or rivers, or give themselves showers using their long trunks. An elephant can also cool off by rolling in a shady bed of mud.

Elephants can swim considerable distances. In deep water they hold their trunks above the water like periscopes. Elephants also use their trunks to trumpet.

Elephants can live to be a good age. On average, an elephant lives between 50 and 70 years although the oldest living elephant was recorded to have reached 82 years old. His name was ‘Raja’ and he lived in captivity in Sri Lanka.

The closest relatives to the elephant are the Hyraxes and Sea Cows (dugongs and manatees). Elephants are also related to Horses, Tapirs and Rhinos.

Elephant Diet

An elephant spends around 16 hours a day eating, drinking, bathing, dusting, wallowing, playing and 3 – 5 hours resting. As an elephant only digests some 40 percent of what it eats, it needs a tremendous amount of vegetation (approximately 5 percent of its body weight per day) and about 30 to 50 gallons of water. A young elephant must learn how to draw water up into its trunk and then pour it into its mouth. Elephants eat an extremely varied vegetarian diet, including grass, leaves, twigs, bark, fruit and seed pods. Favoured foods include: Bananas, bamboo, berries, mangoes, coconuts, corn, jungle shrubs, palm fruits, sugar cane, wood apples and wild rice.

Elephants eat grass, small branches and bark from trees. Elephants especially like leaves from the top branches. They get the leaves by pushing down the trees with their large heads and bodies, then they get the bark by scraping it with their sharp tusks.

Salt is essential and an elephant shows a distinct liking for it. Cold climates can cause an elephant to have stomach aches. Some elephants will even peel fruit before eating. The holy Thai white elephant is very particular about eating and will not consume any food that has fallen on the ground and will not eat with the rest of the herd. The fibrous content of their food and the great quantities consumed makes for large volumes of dung.

Elephant Conservation

Under the Endangered Species Act, the African elephant is listed as a threatened species and the Asian elephant is listed as an endangered species. ‘Endangered’ means a species is considered in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range, and ‘threatened’ means a species is considered in danger of becoming endangered.

More Fascinating Animals to Learn About

  • Water Beetle
    Water Beetle
  • Eurasian Water Shrew
  • British Water Vole
  • African Elephant
  • African Forest Elephant
  • Asian Elephant

About Joanne Spencer

I've always been passionate about animals which led me to a career in training and behaviour. As an animal professional I'm committed to improving relationships between people and animals to bring them more happiness.

Animal Classification

Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Chordata
Class:Mammalia
Order:Proboscidea
Family:Elephantidae
Subfamily:Elephantinae

Search

Most Popular Animals

  • Zebras
  • Aquatic Warbler
  • Atlantic Dolphins
  • Trapdoor Spider
  • Giraffe
  • Meerkats
  • Timber Wolf
  • Praying Mantis
  • Huntsman Spider
  • Vampire Bat

Galapagos Islands

galapagos-islands

Animal Names Glossary

Animal Names

British Wildlife

british-wildlife

Mammals

anatomy

Dog Breeds

dog breeds

Farm Animals

Farm Animals

Best of the Blog

  • 21 Amazing Animals that live in Lakes
  • What are the Fastest Animals in the World?
  • 31 Animals with Weird and Funny Sounding Names
  • Top 15 Deadliest Animals in the World
  • Ophiophagy – Examples of animals that eat snakes
  • List of Fascinating Solitary Animals

Copyright © 2005-2022 · Animal Corner · All Rights Reserved · Affiliate Disclaimer · Privacy Policy · Animals Sitemap . About Us

AnimalCorner.org is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.