General Facts on Elephants

Elephants are Earth's largest land mammal, although Asian elephants are slightly smaller than African elephants. Asian elephants are currently endangered, and African ones are threatened. Here are maps of both elephants range.

All elephants are Herbivores,and live 60-70 years, depending on elephant type and size. African elephants weigh a bit more than Asian Elephants, but in general, they weigh 2.5-7.0 tons. Neither elephant sleep a long time, and they both feast on roots, grasses, fruit, bark, and other similar things. They can eat up to 300 lbs. a day. Elephants travel in herds, with the female's living with the herd, but male's traveling alone.

AsianElephantRangeMap

This is a map of where the Asian elephants live. The green is where they are.

AfricanElephantRangeMap

This is a map of where African elephants live. The red is where they live.

African Elephants

African elephants have a slightly larger body than the Asian elephant, and ears in the shape of Africa. Sort of. Close... Anyway, Their ears radiate heat off to keep elephants cool in the hot African Sun. They use their trunks to smell, breath, trumpet/make noise, drinking, and moving things. The trunk alone contains approx. 100,000 muscles alone, and could also easy get them their meal.

Both male and female African elephants have tusks. Males use the tusks to fight, and the females havethem to dig for food and water, and strip bark from trees. Due to the elephants intake of food, they have to travel to find food.

Baby elephants already weigh about 200 pounds, and already stand 3 feet tall.

Asian Elephants

Asian elephants are overall smaller than the African elephant, and they have smaller, rounder ears. They use their trunks in the same way African elephants do:Breathing, smelling, trumpeting, drinking, and moving things around. For smaller objects, they have one finger-like thing at the end of their trunk, and the African elephant has two. The Asian elephant has been domesticated thousands of years, and have been trained to carry heavy objects, carry humans, and to participate in war. Also,the Asian elephants in the circuses are treated poorly, poked with sharp sticks.

African elephants live up to 60 years, are herbivores, and are endangered. They eat roots, grasses, fruit, bark, and other similar treats. They can eat up to 300 pounds of these "treats" in one day. Female elephants are called cows, and males are called bulls. Bulls stay to them selves, and cows stay with the herd.

Help Save Our Elephants

The ivory tusks on elephants are becoming more and more valuble, but humans want the ivory, and not the elephants. Even though it is illegal today, that does'nt stop poachers and hunters. If you take the elephants tusks, that takes their ability to eat. They starve to death. the African elephants are already threatened, and indian elephants are already endangered We can't afford to continue to put animals into extinction. To help save elephants,and to learn about them, you can go to: Save the Elephants donation site. To donate to and learn about any animal including elephants, go to World Wild life website To see "An Apology To Elephants", an HBO documentary, see this link:(sorry you need the membership, but its on TV, too.) An Apology to Elephants, HBO link

Sites

African Elephants:

African Elephants National Geographic

Asian Elephants:

Asian Elephants National Geographic