When elephants fight it is the grass that suffers. Kikuyu proverb The elephant is the largest land animal, weighing more than six tons (5,443 kilograms). Today wild elephants live naturally only in Africa and Asia. Elephants in both places are considered endangered, and their numbers are steadily declining. In Asia human population growth has reduced the elephant population to approximately 40,000. In Africa hunting is the biggest danger to elephants, though it is illegal.
Elephants have very distinctive physical characteristics. They are the only animal with a trunk, which is a combination nose and upper lip. An elephant breathes and smells with its trunk. The elephant also uses its trunk to spray itself with water or dirt and lift objects as large as 600 pounds (272 kilograms) or as small as a coin. The trunk can hold 1.5 gallons (6 liters) of water. If threatened, an elephant may trumpet a warning through its trunk. The trunk also contributes to the elephants very keen sense of touch, almost serving as the animals fingers as it searches for or examines food. Despite its great senses of smell and touch, the elephant has very poor eyesight. This is attributed to the relatively small size of the eyes. The elephant is also color-blind. | |
 Roaming a Uganda park in the early 1960s, this African elephant had little to fear. In the decades since, human encroachment and poaching have ravaged elephant herds in Uganda and most other areas where elephants once had right of way.
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An elephants ivory tusks are simply two teeth, but they have been the cause for much of the hunting of elephants. Many countries have adopted bans on trading ivory in an effort to save the animal from extinction.
Elephants are considered highly intelligent. Captive animals can be trained to respond to as many as 40 different voice commands. In Asia they have been domesticated for over 4,000 years and often serve as work animals. Some elephants perform in circuses. Elephants have very sharp memories. They are also excellent communicators, often signaling each other over long distances about food and water sources.
Male and female elephants live separately, with the cows and their calves living in family units of about two to four related females and their offspring. These family units are led by a matriarch, usually the eldest female. Males leave the family at adulthood, but visit occasionally. The males, or bulls, live together in loosely knit groups.
Wild elephants may eat between 300 and 500 pounds (136 and 227 kilograms) of vegetation a day. They live as long as 70 years. The elephants pregnancy is the longest of any mammal.
Many organizations work to save the elephant from extinction. For further information, please contact:
Elephant Research Foundation
106 E. Hickory Grove
Bloomfield Hills, Michigan 48304 U.S.A.
telephone +1 810 540 3947
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African Wildlife Foundation
1717 Massachusetts Avenue N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036 U.S.A.
telephone +1 202 265 8393
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