African Elephants (Loxodonta africana and L. cyclotis) Fact Sheet: Diet & Feeding

Generalist herbivores and frugivores

• Capable of eating a vast array of plant life (eg, Nowak 2018)
  • Diet varies with season, habitat, and region (as well as an individual’s nutritional needs)
  • Also see Ecological Role
• Savanna elephant
  • Primarily eat browse (trees and shrubs)—but switch to growing grasses and other plants when seasonally available (Buss 1961; Bax and Sheldrick 1963; Cerling et al. 2006; Codron et al. 2011; Lindsay 2011; Poole et al. 2013; Shannon, Mackey, et al. 2013; Du Plessis et al. 2021)
    • Dry season: higher proportion of woody plants (Lindsay 2011; Poole et al. 2013; Shannon, Mackey, et al. 2013)
    • Wet season: higher proportion of grasses (Cerling et al. 2006; Poole et al. 2013; Du Plessis et al. 2021; Shannon, Mackey, et al. 2013)
  • Eat a wide variety of plant tissues—leaves, twigs, bark, forbs, herbs, roots, leaf-bearing shoots, and fruits (Lindsay 2011; Ihwagi et al. 2012; Owen-Smith and Chafota 2012; Nowak 2018)
  • Known to eat many plant species but feed selectively (e.g., Codron et al. 2011; Lindsay 2011; Owen-Smith and Chafota 2012)
    • Bulk of diet often comes from a small number of available plants
  • Foraging choices also, in part, shaped by plant defenses (eg, Schmitt et al. 2018)
    • Some savanna plants have spines, thorns, or dense branches that make browsing more difficult (eg, Charles‐Dominique et al. 2017; Wigley et al. 2019)
    • Elephants use their excellent sense of smell to detect plant odors; can avoid ingesting plants (or parts of plants) they recognize to contain toxic compounds (eg, Owen-Smith and Chafota 2012; Schmitt et al. 2020; Bester et al. 2023)
      • Also have saliva protein(s) that are thought to reduce the toxicity of tannins—plant compounds that could have harmful effects if consumed in large amounts (eg, Schmitt et al. 2020)
• Forest elephant
  • Mainly fruits, leaves, and bark, and also seeds, branches, and roots (Tchamba and Seme 1993; White et al. 1993; Blake 2002; Sukumar 2003; Turkalo and Barnes 2013; Cardoso et al. 2020)
    • Usually little grass in diet, unlike savanna elephant (Turkalo and Barnes 2013)
    • Grasses uncommon in dense forest, but sometimes present in forest clearings (Turkalo and Barnes 2013) or consumed more in mixed forest habitat (eg, Tchamba and Seme 1993)
  • Switch to eating leaves and bark when fruit not in season (Turkalo and Barnes 2013)
  • Remarkably diverse diet for a mammal (Campos-Arceiz and Blake 2011)
    • Populations potentially feed on hundreds of plant species (eg, Tchamba and Seme 1993; White et al. 1993; Blake 2002; Blake and Maisels 2023)
      • In one study, forest elephants fed on more than 350 plant species (plus more unidentified plant species), with tree species comprising about half of their diet (Blake 2002)

Cultivated crops (non-comprehensive, species combined)

• As generalist foragers, feed on a wide variety of crops (Nyirenda et al. 2023)
• Seek out crops and tree bark with high amounts of energy or possibly for minerals (Cerling et al. 2006; Rode et al. 2006; Branco et al. 2019; Matsika et al. 2020; Montero-Botey et al. 2021)
• Some preferred foods (Kikoti et al. 2010; Branco et al. 2019; Matsika et al. 2020; Montero-Botey et al. 2021; Nyirenda et al. 2023):
  • Cereal grains (eg, maize, sorghum, millet)
  • Fruits (eg, bananas)
  • Legumes (peanuts, beans)
  • Vegetables (eg, sweet potatoes, pumpkins)
  • Also eat bark from nut trees (Montero-Botey et al. 2021)

Minerals

• Seek out minerals (e.g., sodium, potassium, calcium) in water, soil, and even from cave walls (Turkalo and Fay 1995; Klaus et al. 1998; Sitienei et al. 2011; Poole et al. 2013; Reyna-Hurtado et al. 2023)
  • Lick soil near water sources (eg, Reyna-Hurtado et al. 2023), or dig into banks and under trees (eg, Klaus et al. 1998; Blake and Maisels 2023)
  • In some locations, savanna elephants ingest minerals from termite mounds (e.g., Holdo and McDowell 2004; Kalumanga et al. 2017)
• Minerals may improve nutrition, help digestion, or buffer toxic compounds that plants use in defense against herbivores (Turkalo and Barnes 2013 citing Klaus et al. 1998 and Houston et al. 2011; Reyna-Hurtado et al. 2023)
• Move or migrate to water sources and mineral deposits regularly
  • Use feet and tusks to dig up, if necessary (Turkalo and Barnes 2013)

Amount of food eaten

• Consume huge amounts of food (Poole et al. 2013)
• Also see Ecological Role
• Savanna elephant
• Consume about 1 to 2% of their body weight each day (weighed as dry mass) (Dumonceaux 2006 citing Hackenberger and Atkinson 1983; see Table 5.4 in Lindsay 2011)
• 40 to 80 kg (90 to 180 lb) dry mass
• Forest elephant
• 45 to 55 kg dry mass (Ruggiero 1992)
• Changes seasonally (Ruggiero 1992)
• Mothers producing milk and sexually active males have higher nutritional needs (Poole et al. 2013)
• Consume a higher amount of browse

Time budget

• See Activity Patterns

Adaptations for feeding

• Trunk
• Flexible "fingers" at tip can pick up small food objects, individually and with precision (Schulz et al. 2021)
• Foods placed in mouth
• Can also wrap trunk around branches and grass tufts to eat larger amounts at one time
• Foods and water also sucked into trunk using trunk muscles and lungs, which create a negative suction pressure (Shoshani 1997; Schulz et al. 2021)
• Contents then expelled into mouth
• Trunk not a “straw” (nostrils and digestive tract not connected)
• Trunks of adults can hold about 1 to 2.5 gallons of water, depending on size of the individual and their trunk
• Also see Teeth
• Behaviors
• Push trees over to expose roots or reach high branches in the canopy (Shannon et al. 2008; Asner et al. 2016; Nowak 2018)
• Contributed to ecosystem diversity and functioning, prior to widespread human presence in Africa (Nowak 2018)
• Pull grass bundles from ground with trunk, then beat against body to dislodge soil before eating (Nowak 2018 citing Whyte 2005)

Drinking

• Need to drink roughly 150 to 200 liters (40 to 50 gal) of water per day [savanna elephant] (Dumonceaux 2006 citin duToit 2001; Poole et al. 2013)
• Suction water into trunk and release into mouth, then swallow (Krishnan 1972; McKay 1973)
• Also see Trunk
• Pouch at base of tongue (pharyngeal pouch) allows elephants to store up to several liters of water (Poole et al. 2013)
• Spray skin (for cooling down) or may aid low-frequency communication calls (Shoshani 1998)
• Will drink once a day, when water available—but ranges of every 1 to 2 days, or 3 to 5 days, also reported (Leggett 2006; Poole et al. 2013; Chamaillé‐Jammes et al. 2014)
• Will drink water with salt in it, if freshwater not available (can be fatal if salt content too high) (Poole et al. 2013)
• In Zimbabwe, Chamaillé‐Jammes et al. (2014) observed up to 300 elephants drinking from very crowded waterholes at the same time, and 1,500 individuals visiting crowded waterholes over 24 hours

Digestion and scat

• Digestive strategy
• Pass large amounts of forage in a short time (Dumonceaux 2006)
• Most food (about 60%) passes through gastrointestinal tract undigested, then is eliminated in fibrous feces (Shoshani 2000)
• Specialized digestive system helps to break down elephant’s food
• Microbes (bacteria, protozoans)
• Help break down cellulose by hindgut fermentation (Shoshani 1996; Shoshani 2000; Dumonceaux 2006)
• Similar in rhinos and horses
• Excretion
• Defecate as many as 10 to 20 times a day (Dumonceaux 2006; Poulsen et al. 2021)
• Savannah elephants
• Digestion time is about 24 hours (Shoshani 2000), but depends on the type of food eaten (Dumonceaux 2006)
• Forest elephants
• Digestion time is about 40 hours [adult females] (Poulsen et al. 2021)
• Also see Ecological Role

Image credit: © San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. All rights reserved.

African elephants eating.

Image credit: © San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. All rights reserved.