All Things Kenyan

Name: African Elephant

Name: African Elephant (includes Forest Elephants and Savannah Elephants)

Latin Name: Loxodonta africana

African Names: Tembo or Ndovo (Swahili), Ndovu (Kikuyu), Indlovu (Zulu), Olifant (Afrikaans), Indofu (Luhya), Nzou (Shona), Tlôu (Tswana)

Height: 8 feet 11 inches

African Elephant

Average Adult Weight: 4,000-13,000 pounds

Life Span: 60 to 70 years

Habitat: Rain forests to desert-like habitats, swamps, seashores, and edges of mountain forests

Countries found in: Africa – Small pockets of Forest Elephants live in western Africa; Savannah Elephants occur widely south of the Sahara.

Babies: Live birth, elephants can give birth every three to four years. Gestation period is almost two years. Babies are roughly 250 pounds when born.

Food: Elephants eat an extremely varied vegetarian diet, including grass, leaves, twigs, bark, fruit and seed pods.

Group Name: A group of elephants is called a herd.

Predators: Humans are the only predators of consequence to adult African elephant. Calves are preyed upon by lions, wild dogs, crocodiles, and hyenas.

Endangered: The African Elephant is considered threatened.

Interesting Facts: The African elephant is the largest land mammal.
One ear from a bull African elephant weighs more than 100 pounds.
Elephants do not have sweat glands.
Elephants have 6 sets of molar teeth; when the last set is lost, the animal is unable to eat and eventually dies.
There are 4 to 5 toes on the front feet and only 3 toes on the back feet.
Both male and female African elephants have tusk whereas only the male Asian elephant has tusks.
Forest Elephants are smaller than Savannah Elephants.