African Elephants (Loxodonta africana and L. cyclotis) Fact Sheet: Summary

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Proboscidea

Family: Elephantidae

Genus: Loxodonta

Species: Loxodonta africana — African savanna (or African bush) elephant
Species: Loxodonta cyclotis — African forest elephant

Body Weight

Savanna elephant:
Male: 6,000 kg (13,000 lb), on average
Female: 2,800 kg (6,100 lb), on average

Forest elephant:
2,700–6,000 kg (6,000–13,000 lb)

Head-body Length

Savanna elephant: 600–750 cm (20–25 ft)
Forest elephant: 600–750 cm (20–25 ft)

Range

Savanna and forest elephants generally not found in same range areas, but some overlap in forested areas of Central Africa.

Savanna elephant: East, Central, and southern Africa
Forest elephant: most in Central Africa; far fewer in West Africa

Habitat

Savanna elephant: Wide variety of habitats, including grasslands, woodlands, lowland rainforests, montane forests, scrub habitats, wet marshes, some arid deserts, etc.
Forest elephant: tropical rainforests of western and central Africa; savanna habitat near forests and areas of mixed forest/savanna; forest edges and clearings.
Both species may spend time near human settlements and agricultural lands.

IUCN Status

Savanna elephant: Endangered (2020 assessment)
Forest elephant: Critically Endangered (2020 assessment)

CITES Appendix

Appendix I. Both species currently combined under L. africana (forest elephant not yet recognized as a separate species under CITES).

Populations in the Wild

Savanna elephant: New estimates from IUCN SSC African Elephant Specialist Group are forthcoming—check website for newest reports. Chase et al. (2016) reported at least 350,000 individuals in an analysis of 18 (of 30+) range countries. Largest populations in southern Africa (most intact, continuous range).
Forest elephant: New estimates from IUCN SSC African Elephant Specialist Group are forthcoming—check website for newest reports. Approximately 135,000 individuals (from surveys conducted between 2016 and 2022). Overall, continent-wide declines of at least 90% over a 50-year period.

Threats to Survival

Savanna elephant: Main threats are human–elephant conflict, habitat loss, and poaching and illegal trade.
Forest elephant: Primary threat is poaching and illegal trade, habitat loss (forests within their small distribution), and possibly impacts of climate change to their food (fruits).

Activity Patterns

Savanna elephant: Active day and night, but usually rest during hottest times of day. More active at night during dry seasons and in dry areas, and where poachers or human disturbance occur.
Forest elephant: Early research suggests activity during the day and at night. Some studies suggest feeding until about 14:00 and greater variety of behavior in the afternoon. Avoid poachers and human activity during the day, similar to savanna elephant.

Movements

Savanna elephant: Adult males and females typically use distinct areas, except during breeding. Move to find water and high-quality forage. Various movement patterns reported in different regions, depending on amount of food and water available—resident, migratory, semi-migratory, or nomadic-like movements. May move long distances each year in search of green vegetation and water, or may not move far if food, water, and shade remain available across seasons.
Forest elephant: Highly variable home ranges reported. May move more during the wet season, while seeking out preferred fruits. At least some individuals appear to continually shift and explore their home range, similar to savanna elephant. Tend to use similar areas from year to year, though males may be more migratory and females more resident.

Social Behavior

Fission–fusion social structure in both species. Members of a group change often, coming together to form larger groups and splitting apart. Excellent memory for recognizing family members and distinguishing between familiar/unfamiliar individuals.
Savanna elephant: Adults usually split into same-sex groups. Herds highly gregarious. Females form complex social bonds—among the most complex of any animal.Groups tend to consist of adult females—primarily female relatives and their offspring.
Forest elephant: Very different social organization than savanna elephant—more similar to Asian elephants, which also commonly live in forests. Social role of matriarchs limited or absent outside of small family groups, which are comprised of mothers and their offspring. No extended matriarchal hierarchies, as in savanna elephants. Groups commonly comprised of 1 or 2 related females and their dependent young, but females but also commonly observed singly. Sometimes aggregate in natural forest clearings and at mineral springs.

Communication

Chemical, vocal, and tactile communication most important for elephants. Odors may convey information about age, maturity (or reproductive status), and kinship, and are important in individual recognition and for maintaining social relationships. Elephants vocalize often to maintain contact and coordinate their behavior and movements. Females generally more vocal than males and produce more kinds of calls. Social rumbles used in most social and reproductive contexts, and are individually distinctive. One study found savanna elephants used name-like vocal "labels" to address one another. Trunk highly sensitive and frequently used with herd members to greet one another, provide reassurance, affection, and during play. Important in mother–calf interactions and during confrontations with other elephants.

Diet

Savanna elephant: Primarily eat browse (trees and shrubs)—but switch to growing grasses and other plants when seasonally available. Eat a wide variety of plant tissues—leaves, twigs, bark, forbs, herbs, roots, leaf-bearing shoots, and fruits. Known to eat many plant species but feed selectively.
Forest elephant: Mainly fruits, leaves, and bark, and also seeds, branches, and roots. Usually little grass in diet, unlike savanna elephant. Switch to eating leaves and bark when fruit not in season. Remarkably diverse diet, with some populations potentially feeding on hundreds of plant species.
May also seek out mineral deposits and cultivated crops, such as cereal grains, fruits (bananas, mangoes), legumes (peanuts, beans), and vegetables (sweet potatoes, pumpkins).

Predators

Savanna elephant: Lions, spotted hyena, and leopards for calves and juveniles. Humans for adult elephants.
Forest elephant: Calves and juveniles not thought to have non-human predators, but rarely, possibly leopards. Humans for adult elephants.

Locomotion

Adults generally walk. Only run when fleeing danger or charging. Move legs on same side of body, even at higher speeds. Body has a rolling motion and head bobs during fast walk. Unusual hybrid gait for moving fast (bouncing motion with joints bending more). Able to kneel, squat, roll, and sit on haunches. Able to balance on back legs to reach browse up high.

Mating System

Savanna elephant: Females tend to mate with large males in musth (a period of heightened sexual activity and aggressive behavior in breeding males). Males compete for access to females. While guarding females, musth males chase away younger males and prevent them from mating. Musth state allows males (especially older males) entry into matriarchal groups, helps to facilitate female mate choice, and reduces dominance-related aggression among adult males (helping to prevent injury and death from fighting).

Breeding

Savanna elephant: Can occur during any time of year, and may coincide with seasonal or annual cycles of high rainfall; influenced by availability of high-quality forage. Females generally breed when in good body condition and when ample food available.
Forest elephant: Females can enter estrus and conceive during any time of year, but most calves born from May to August, in the middle of the wet season.

Parental Care

Calves looked after by their mothers and other adult and subadult females in their herd. Guide or restrain calf movements using trunk, nudging with a foot, and/or gentle use of tusks (eg, helping a calf up a steep incline). In savanna elephant, grandmothers “impart” knowledge to daughters and grand-calves.

Sexual Maturity

Savanna elephant: females mature by about 12 years and give birth to first calf at about 14 years [Amboseli and Addo populations]. Males begin producing sperm at about 10 to 14 years old, but in wild populations, not of sufficient social status to compete and mate until into their 20s (access to breeding females limited by more dominant males). In managed care, sexual maturity and breeding behaviors can begin at much younger ages, perhaps due to good nutrition.

Forest elephant: Females mature at about 12 to 14 years old, but much variation reported (as young as 8-10 years old, or later when typical births not until early 20s—may be limited by ecological resources). Males likely physically mature at about same age as females—but like savanna elephants, begin successfully mating at an older age.

Gestation

About 22 months, on average (both species)

Litter Size

Usually one calf (both species)

Interbirth Interval

Savanna elephant: Typically, about 3 to 5 years (range: 3 to 9.5 years)—but varies between and within populations.
Forest elephant: about 5 years (range: about 1.5 to 11 years)

Birth Weight

Savanna elephant: about 90 to 120 kg (200 to 270 lb), on average

Lactation and Weaning

Savanna elephant: Calves rely on milk exclusively for first 3 months, then begin feeding on plants while also continuing to nurse. Cannot use trunk to suck up/drink water until about 8 to 9 months old. Depend on mother’s milk for 2 years. Often continue to nurse as long as mother will tolerate suckling. Calf may be forced to wean after a younger sibling is born.
Forest elephant: Typical age at weaning not yet scientifically demonstrated—but likely corresponds with birth of a mother’s next calf, similar to savanna elephant. Some calves observed suckling until 5 years old.

Typical Life Expectancy

For wild populations, life expectancy varies depending on population, sex, amount of poaching pressure, etc. Regional differences need more study, but likely about 30 to 40 years.
Managed care: see AZA's Species Survival Statistics.

Feature Facts

• Elephants are the largest living land mammals
• One of the last remaining “mega-herbivores” on Earth, impacting plant communities through many behaviors and redistributing important nutrients and dispersing seeds across landscapes
• Trunk prehensile and capable of remarkably complex movements/actions (bend, suck, twist, grasp, pinch, and even form stiff angles that function like joints)
• Skin wrinkles help skin retain moisture, improving regulation of body temperature and allowing trunk to freely move in all directions
• Molar teeth replaced as an elephant ages, with new teeth erupting from jaw and pushing worn-out teeth forward and out of jaw
• Spend much of their active time foraging
• Excellent sense of smell, which influences many aspects of their biology, from social interactions to seasonal movements
• Able to produce loud, powerful vocalizations and also very low frequency sounds (often infrasonic), which help adults stay in contact over long distances
• Large, complex brains (most comparable to brains of great apes, humans, and whales, dolphins, and porpoises)
• Think in many complex ways: social learning and basic forms of teaching, recognition of scents and voices, empathy (and altruism), use of simple tools, vocal imitation, thought to be self-aware
• Exceptional memories—for odors, places (helps with navigating large ranges), recognizing relatives and other elephants (as well as individual humans)
• Constantly learn and recall detailed knowledge of landscapes. During drought, experienced savanna elephant matriarchs use their knowledge of water and food sources to lead herds across long distances. Similar leadership roles recently discovered among male savanna elephants.
• Repeated movements through forests leave wide worn trails—which, around a forest’s edge, can act as a firebreak and stabilize mosaics of savanna and forest habitat
• Elephant dung used by many decomposers, including fungi and insects; one study estimated that dung from a single adult savanna elephant could potentially support 2 million dung beetles each day
• Savanna elephants affected by several diseases/conditions, such as anthrax, encephalomyocarditis virus, “floppy trunk syndrome,” and certain serious bacterial infections
• Once occurred throughout most of Africa, but today occupy as little as 15% of their historic range, mainly due to poaching and habitat loss 
• Poaching kills elephants outright—but also indirectly disrupts and harms survivors’ family members and social relationships; calves unlikely to survive if orphaned before reaching 2 years old
• Various grief and consolation behaviors reported
• Elephant poaching decreased substantially from 2014 to 2020 for savanna elephants but still high for forest elephants in Central Africa (accounts for about 60% of forest elephant deaths in the region)
• Forest elephant at higher extinction risk than savanna elephant
• Savanna elephants living near human settlements also threatened by conflict with humans over land, water, and ability to move/travel freely; elephants demonstrated to adjust their behavior to avoid contact with humans
• Many conflict-prevention strategies have been developed, with ongoing testing and study; remains a challenging aspect of elephant conservation due to elephants' problem-solving and learning abilities