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| Toledo
Zoo Elephants |
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Video, Pictures, and info about our new baby Elephant [more
info] |
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Facts about our Elephants [more
info]
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| Breeding
[more info] |
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One giant step toward breeding success as The Toledo Zoo [more
info] |
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Risk reduction [more info] |
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African Elephant breeding basics [more
info] |
| Elephant
Conservation [more
info] |
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What is causing the dramatic decline in the African Elephant
population range? [more info] |
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Is captive breeding the solution? [more
info] |
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What can you do to save the Elephants [more
info] |
| About
African Elephants [more
info] |
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African or Asian? [more info] |
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Anatomy of an African Elephant [more
info] |
Common
Name:
African Elephant
Scientific
Name:
Loxodonta africana
 Pachyderm
Profile
The African elephant is the largest living land mammal, with its
relative, the Asian or Indian elephant, coming in a close second.
Adult African elephants reach a length of 18-24 feet and a height
of 10-13 feet. They weigh in at 8,800-15,500 pounds. Maximum size
is reached at around 25 years of age.
Habitat
African elephants are native to a wide variety of habitats, including
semi-desert scrub, open savannas and dense forest regions. However,
whereas elephants once ranged throughout Africa, they are now mostly
confined to parks and reserves south of the Sahara Desert. Only
about 20% of their range is under some form of protection.
 Diet
In keeping with their enormous proportions, elephants are big eaters.
In fact, they dedicate as many as 18-20 hours of the day to feeding.
When full-grown, these huge herbivores can consume anywhere from
300-500 pounds of vegetation per day. In the wild, their diet consists
mainly of grass, tree foliage, bark, roots, shrubs and fruit. They'll
even ingest soil for its mineral content.
Here at
The Toledo Zoo, our elephants eat hay (2,000 bales per year), grain,
fruits and vegetables. They're especially fond of carrots.
| Life
Cycle |
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When
young elephants nurse, they suckle with their mouths, not
with their trunks. |
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Most
of an elephant's physical growth has been achieved by age
15, but its mental ability peaks between the ages of 30
and 45. |
| • |
Natural
death occurs shortly after an elephant's last set of molars
wears out and the animal can no longer eat. |
| • |
Adult
elephants have no natural predators, but lions, hyenas and
crocodiles occasionally prey upon the young. |
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Man
is the only predator of adult elephants. Humans compete
with elephants for living space and hunt them illegally
for ivory and the bushmeat trade. |
 Family
Values
African elephants live in highly structured, socially complex family
units called herds. A herd consists of 8-10 closely related females
and their immature offspring of both sexes. Usually, the oldest,
largest dominant female, called the matriarch, leads the herd.
When young
male elephants reach puberty, around 12-15 years of age, they either
leave the herd voluntarily or are driven out by the females. They
then roam alone or gather in small, loosely bonded "bachelor" herds.
Bulls temporarily rejoin cow herds when females are ready to mate.
Adult elephants
appear to recognize individual members of their family group as
well as members of extended groupings. Members of a group will often
pause briefly to exchange touches when passing one another in the
bush. Elephants are even thought to display compassion when a group
member is injured and grief when a familiar elephant dies.
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