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The African Elephant: Land's Biggest Animal

The African elephant is the largest land animal. It lives in savannas, woodlands, deserts, and mountains across Africa wherever there is food and water. African elephants eat grasses, plants, and bark. They are threatened by hunting and loss of habitat but conservation efforts aim to protect them by reducing poaching and advocating for sustainable hunting of other species.

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Lorrie Zogg Stork
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17 views

The African Elephant: Land's Biggest Animal

The African elephant is the largest land animal. It lives in savannas, woodlands, deserts, and mountains across Africa wherever there is food and water. African elephants eat grasses, plants, and bark. They are threatened by hunting and loss of habitat but conservation efforts aim to protect them by reducing poaching and advocating for sustainable hunting of other species.

Uploaded by

Lorrie Zogg Stork
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The African Elephant

Land’s biggest animal

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/AfricanSavanna/fact-afelephant.cfm
Habitat
• Live wherever food and water is http://www.naturephoto-cz.eu/african-elephant:loxodonta-africana-photo-1368.html

plentiful
• Most live on savannas and dry
woodlands
• Occur in deserts in some regions
• Occur in mountains in some
regions
• Live in dense tropical rainforest African elephant in dry woodland
in Congo
Diet
• Seek out grasses and herbs
more during rainy season
• Eat leaves, fruits, twigs, seed http://www.postershowcase.info/i6109902.html

pods and bark from many


plants
• It’s a primary consumer, or an
herbivore
• Consume 5% of body weight
and drink 30-50 gallons of African Elephant eating grass
water daily
Reproduction
• Average life span in wild is 60
years http://www.itsnature.org/ground/mammals-land/elephant/

• Older and larger males


dominate breeding
• Gestation, or pregnancy, lasts
22 months
• Usually only one calf is born
per litter
• Elephants can breed by age 10 A male and female elephant
and give birth to one young
every 4 years
Other natural history
• Active during year round
during the day and many http://www.xiongdudu.com/image/African_Elephant_Photographs/2

hours at night
• Roam much in search of food
and rarely sleep
• Spend some hot summer days
soaked in water instead of
roaming
Elephants in water
• Scientists consider them the
keystone species
Why African elephant are in trouble
• Ivory hunters caused http://www.redivorysafaris.com/dangerous_game/dangerous_game.html

population plummet
hunting for their tusks
• Dehabituation due to new
ranches, farms, and
desertification
• Forest elephant is
threatened from logging
and market hunting for Ivory hunter

meat
What People are doing to help them
• Organizations reduce http://www.workandvolunteer.com/Programme/?pgid=322

poaching by developing
jobs other than poaching in
these areas and providing
affordable meat
• Organizations advocate
hunting of less vulnerable
species in buffer zones and African Elephant conservation
community hunting
reserves
What it looks like
• Males-about 10 feet tall,
11,000-13,200 lbs. heavy http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/s2007/shah_rach/

• Females-about 8 feet
tall, 6,600-7,700 lbs.
• Have two tusks and
large, fan-like ears
• Have 2 finger-like
projections on the end
of trunk Physical description
Range of African Elephant
http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/s2007/shah_rach/

• Elephants once lived


throughout most of the
continent
• rapidly declined in the 70’s and
80’s due to increased ivory
hunting Recent distribution map
http://www.sanparks.org/parks/kruger/elephants/about/distribution.php

• Most now live in protected


areas
• Population: 402,000-677,000
animals
• We should reintroduce to
North Africa

Distribution 30 years ago

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