ELEPHANTS
AFRICAN ELEPHANT
The African Elephant is one of the largest mammals on earth. A fully grown male can be up to 12 feet at the shoulder and weigh 6 tons.
African elephants live in the savannahs and grasslands south of the Sahara desert. They live in herds. Because of their size, adults have no predators but calves can fall prey to lions and crocodiles.
Elephants eat roots, leaves and fruit. They use their trunks to collect the food and put it in their mouths. An adult can eat up to 300 pounds of food in a day. African elephants roam great distances to find enough food.
The trunk is used for smelling and touching. Elephants also use their trunks to help lift or nudge an elephant calf over an obstacle, to rescue a fellow elephant stuck in mud, or to gently raise a newborn elephant to its feet. And just as a human baby sucks its thumb, an elephant calf often sucks its trunk for comfort. A trunk can even be used as a snorkel when wading in deep water.
Elephants can live up to 70 years.
