Discover Africa Blog
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • Register
  • Home
  • Destinations
    • Botswana
    • Kenya
    • Tanzania
    • Zambia
    • Zimbabwe
  • Expert Insights
  • Wildlife
  • Safari Guides
  • Facts
Publish an Article
SUBSCRIBE
Discover Africa Blog
  • Home
  • Destinations
    • Botswana
    • Kenya
    • Tanzania
    • Zambia
    • Zimbabwe
  • Expert Insights
  • Wildlife
  • Safari Guides
  • Facts
No Result
View All Result
Discover Africa Blog
No Result
View All Result
Home

15 Interesting Facts About African Elephants

Interesting fun facts about the African Elephant

Discover Africa by Discover Africa
February 24, 2021
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0 0
0

Elephants are highly intelligent animals whose continued existence is threatened. Loss of habitat, human-elephant conflict, and poaching for ivory and bushmeat are great threats to elephant populations.

As of 2013, the Asian elephant population had experienced a 90 percent decline in the past 100 years and some experts suggest 95 percent of their original habitat has been lost over the same period.

[the_ad id=”12189″]

Estimates vary, but most agree that there has been a 75 percent decline in the elephant population in Africa.

Today there are thought to be between 300,000 and 500,000 wild elephants in Africa and less than 60,000 wild elephants in Asia. Asian elephants are recognized as an endangered species. African elephants are recognized as threatened.

[the_ad id=”12189″]

Table of Contents

  • Facts About African Elephants
  • Some Importance of Elephants in the African Ecosystem
  • Challenges Facing Elephant Population include:-
  • RELATED POSTS
  • 10 Interesting Facts About African Cheetahs
  • Top 10 Interesting facts about Victoria Falls
  • Top 5 interesting Facts about Nairobi

Facts About African Elephants

Now, Let’s see some of the interesting facts about African Elephants.

  1. Baby elephants stay with mum for up to 10 years. They even learn to eat by putting their trunks inside their mothers’ mouths to take food.
  2. The African elephant has the largest brain in the animal kingdom – it can weigh up to 5kg! This is amazing when you consider how much an elephant weighs ( African elephants weigh up to 6000kg!). The human brain, however, is larger when measured as a proportion of our total body weight.

    [the_ad id=”12189″]

  3. The average life span of an elephant is 50-70 years, the same as humans, but the oldest known elephant in the world was 86 when he died.
  4. Elephant family groups are very close. While they can’t exactly hug each other, elephants do wrap their trunks around younger relatives to reassure them, and to greet each other they twine their trunks together.

    [the_ad id=”12189″]

  5. Elephants walk at about 4mph, and they are able to swim long distances. They are, however, the only mammal that can’t jump. How fast can elephants run? Elephants have been clocked to run at 15 mph, however it is believed that, over a very short distance, elephants could run as fast as 25mph.
  6. Elephants consume 200kg of food and 200 gallons of water every day.

    [the_ad id=”12189″]

  7. Their Digestion system is very poor hence digesting 30 to 40 percent of food they consume daily
  8. The shortest trunk in an elephant show they are either left or right-handed
  9. Elephants bury their dead colleagues by covering them with trunks, branches, and leave, and they mourn just like humans.

    [the_ad id=”12189″]

  10. They have very sharp memories. They can remember something 10yrs later without getting lost
  11. Their trunks are believed to have more than 100,000 nerves, which means they can even pick a very small object size of a thorn or grass with their trunk.

    [the_ad id=”12189″]

  12. Elephants have very poor eyesight
  13. Elephants have a very high sense of smell and hearing
  14. Female elephants gestation period is 22 months
  15. From reports, Elephants have in recent years generated a resistant gene to not grow tusks, maybe due to the intense poaching being witnessed in Africa.

    [the_ad id=”12189″]

10 Best Photos of Mt. Kilimanjaro and Amboseli National Park Elephants

Some Importance of Elephants in the African Ecosystem

As well as having fascinating anatomy and behavior characteristics, elephants also play an essential role in delicate African ecosystems.

Their huge size means that they can shape the landscape that they are in – as they move around and feed, they create clearings in wooded areas, which lets light in so that new plants can grow and smaller animals can survive.

[the_ad id=”12189″]

They are also a very important form of seed dispersal; elephant dung often contains undigested seeds which are then spread widely around the area as the animals travel – sometimes these seeds are too big for smaller animals to eat, making elephants a vital carrier for these plants.

Elephant dung is also an important resource for humans – their nutrient-rich manure replenishes depleted soils so that humans can have a nutrient-rich soil to plant crops in.

[the_ad id=”12189″]

Elephants are important for other animals within the environment too. They dig waterholes when river beds are dry that other animals can use as a water source, and their large footprints can create deep holes for water to collect in.

The wide trails that they carve through the vegetation as they move through the landscape can also act as fire breakers and water run-offs, and make it easier for humans and other animals to access the forest and brush.

[the_ad id=”12189″]

Challenges Facing Elephant Population include:-

  1. Human-Wildlife Conflicts:- Humans have in recent years taken elephant spaces and resourced them for other use like farming and settlement. This makes it complicated for wildlife or elephants to settle near them as they see them as a big threat.
  2. Poaching:- Being the most notorious factors, elephant numbers keep deteriorating during to markets demanding elephant tusks. This has made it tough for these gentle giants to survive.

    [the_ad id=”12189″]

 

RELATED POSTS

10 Interesting Facts About African Cheetahs

Top 10 Interesting facts about Victoria Falls

Top 5 interesting Facts about Nairobi


 

Please subscribe to our youtube channel

 

Tags: african elephantsElephantsfacts about elephants
ShareTweetPin

Get real time update about this post categories directly on your device, subscribe now.

Unsubscribe
ADVERTISEMENT
Discover Africa

Discover Africa

A Premium Luxury Safari Blog focusing on African Safari and Destination Marketing Services. Offering premium and incredible safari consultancy for more than 10+yrs.

Related Posts

African Cheetah: Image by Deepak Shankar
Expert Insights

10 Interesting Facts About African Cheetahs

March 24, 2023
Top 10 Interesting facts about Victoria Falls
Expert Insights

Top 10 Interesting facts about Victoria Falls

November 30, 2022
Top 5 interesting Facts about Nairobi
Wildlife in Kenya

Top 5 interesting Facts about Nairobi

December 18, 2022
Top 10 Popular Landmarks in Nairobi – Places in Nairobi Kenya
Expert Insights

Top 10 Popular Landmarks in Nairobi – Places in Nairobi Kenya

December 18, 2022
Interesting Facts about Mount Kilimanjaro
Facts

5 Unique Interesting Facts about Mount Kilimanjaro

December 18, 2022
10 Interesting Facts about African Cheetahs.
Wildlife in Kenya

10 Interesting Facts about African Cheetahs.

March 24, 2023
Next Post

10 Interesting Facts About Hippos

15 Interesting Facts About Buffalos.

Recommended Stories

Forests in Kenya – Explore the Enchanting National Forests of Kenya

Forests in Kenya – Explore the Enchanting National Forests of Kenya

March 24, 2023
Interesting Facts about Mount Kilimanjaro

5 Unique Interesting Facts about Mount Kilimanjaro

December 18, 2022
10 best safari camps and lodges in Samburu National Reserve.

10 best safari camps and lodges in Samburu National Reserve.

March 10, 2023

Popular Stories

  • Beautiful bead works at the Maasai market-The Masai Market Nairobi - Where is The Maasai Market in Nairobi

    Where is The Maasai Market in Nairobi 2023? Best Days To Visit

    101257 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • 20 Best Camps in Maasai Mara in 2023

    87988 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • 5 top Tea and Coffee plantations to visit around Nairobi

    12333 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Top 10 popular streets in Nairobi

    26558 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  •   Top 8 Most Romantic Date Night Restaurants in Nairobi

    62541 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Discover Africa Blog – ABout Us

Discover Africa Blog

Discover Africa Blog is a premium safari blog that inspires travelers, advises and guides safari goers, and a blog that prepares you for your next African Safari Adventures.

Stay in Touch

Subscribe to our Weekly Newsletters that inspire and motivate you to plan your next African Safaris. We share the best tips and ideas of how to plan your holidays in Africa. 

Facebook-f Twitter Google-plus-g Pinterest
Copyright 2023 © All rights Reserved. Design by Discover Africa Marketing
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Destinations
    • Botswana
    • Kenya
    • Tanzania
    • Zambia
    • Zimbabwe
  • Expert Insights
  • Wildlife
  • Safari Guides
  • Facts
  • Login
  • Sign Up
  • Cart
ADVERTISE WITH US

© 2022 Discover Africa Marketing - Premium Safari Blog By Discover Africa Marketing.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms bellow to register

*By registering into our website, you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.
Are you sure want to unlock this post?
Unlock left : 0
Are you sure want to cancel subscription?

Table of Contents

×
  • Facts About African Elephants
  • Some Importance of Elephants in the African Ecosystem
  • Challenges Facing Elephant Population include:-
  • RELATED POSTS
  • 10 Interesting Facts About African Cheetahs
  • Top 10 Interesting facts about Victoria Falls
  • Top 5 interesting Facts about Nairobi
→ Index