African Elephant Facts For Kids | African Elephant Diet & Habitat

Let’s check out all these amazing African elephant facts for kids such as African elephant habitat, diet, reproduction, species and its physical behavior. African elephants are the elephants that belong to the family of Elephantidae and the genus Loxodonta.

This is further classified into two extant species; African bush elephant and the African forest elephant. These elephants have large ears coupled with an elongated strapping trunk. Both the male and female African elephants have turks.

Like other elephants species, African elephants require a large amount of food to hold up their mammoth size. They are known to consume almost 350 pounds of food every day and their scavenging can drastically change the landscape. Some of the foremost African elephant predators include hyenas, lions and of course humans.

These elephant species are listed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The African elephants population is facing sudden decline due to habitat destruction and extreme human hunting.

African Elephant Facts For Kids

• African elephant is by far the largest living territorial mammal on the planet earth.
• The large-sized African elephant’s ears allow them to pass heat.
• African elephants are larger than the Asian elephants.
• The shoulder height of these male elephants measure around 4,700 – 6,048 kg (10,000 – 13,330 lb), while the females are 2.2 – 2.6 meters (7.2 – 8.5 feet) high from the shoulder.
• The weight of the African elephants is about 2,160 – 3,232 kg (4,800 – 7,130 lb).
• These mammoth animals have four molars that are 30 cm (12 inches) in length and weighs around 5 kg (11 lb).
• One of the foremost causes of their deaths is starvation which they normally suffer at the age of 50 – 60. When elephants reach this much age, they tend to lose their teeth.
• The weight of the tusks measure around 23 – 45 kg (51 – 99 lb), with the length measuring at 1.5 – 2.4 meters (5 – 8 feet).
• African elephants are considered to be highly intelligent animals.
• The elephant’s brain weighs around 5 kg (11 lb).
• They are best known for the extreme varieties in their behavior such as learning allomothering, sense of humor, altruism, self-awareness, and memory.
• These elephants are hunted mostly for the commercial usages of their teeth that indeed employed for ivory trading. The population begins to decline in 1990 when more than 600,000 species were put to death because of ivory trading.
• The African elephants are the closest relatives of manatees.
• The female elephants reach the maturity age in between 12 – 14 years.
• The period of pregnancy lasts for 22 months and the calves are typically born in rainy season.
• These elephants are breed poorly in captivity.
• The females litter one calf in a period of 5 years.
• African elephants are known to reside in the southern tip of Africa as well as in southern Sahara Desert. Some of these species are limited to the small regions of southern Africa.
• The average lifespan of African elephants is about 70 years.
• They are listed as threatened species by the IUCN.
• African elephants are very fond of spraying water all over their body.
• There are around 100,000 muscles in the elephant’s trunk only.
• The name of the elephant’s group is known as herd.
• African elephants, when they’re hungry, do not sleep too much rather they travel great distances in search of food.
• At birth, calves weigh around 200 pounds (91 kg), with the height of about 3 feet (1 meter).
• African Elephants for the most part fertile in between 25 and 45 years.
• The gestation period lasts for about 2 years

Read More: What Do African Elephants Eat?

Distribution and Habitat

These elephants inhabit all throughout the Southern, Eastern, and West Africa. They are found in the dense forests, miombo woodlands, Sahelian scrub, mopane and deserts.

How fast can an elephant run?

Classification

• African bush elephant
• African forest elephant

Feeding Ecology and Diet

These animals are herbivores. African elephants primarily feed on vegetation including leaves, buds, fruits, roots, bark, grasses, and branches. They are adept to consume almost 450 kg of vegetation each day.