By: Maya Song

The elephant is one of the largest mammals on earth. Elephants live across Africa and Asia and are very popular sightseeing animals. There are approximately 415,000 elephants in Africa and 40,000-50,000 elephants left in Asia. It is estimated that there were once 20 million elephants in just Africa and an estimated number of 26 million on the whole earth. The elephant’s population is continuing to decline because of causes like habitat loss, and poaching, which is also known as illegal hunting.

The elephant’s habitat is very large, they can live in places like forests, savannas, deserts, wetlands and grasslands. Most elephants just need areas with a lot of space as they are very large. They also need their food and water; the elephant is a herbivore and eats food such as grass, bark, leaves, fruits, and roots. An elephant can feed for up to 12 hours and eats over 100 pounds of vegetation in just one day.

When the elephant is pregnant the baby elephant also known as a calf stays inside the mother for about 22 months which is one of the longest gestation cycles. After the calf is born its mother and other elephants in the herd will help the calf stand up as baby elephants are able to stand up a few minutes after birth. When the calf reaches the four month mark they start to eat things besides their mothers milk but will continue to drink its mothers milk for up to two years and can drink 3 gallons a day.

Elephants are social animals and will travel in herds. Most elephant herds are large families that include members over multiple generations; and usually they travel with these same herds for the entirety of their lives.

Elephants usually live around 60-70 years, they usually die because of starvation or a disease called anthrax. Annually there’s a range from 40,000 to 70,000 elephants dying.

For more information, please visit:

• https://www.livescience.com/27320-elephants.html