African Elephant

Species: African Elephant
Habitat: Sub-Sahara Africa
Status: Endangered
DAK Locale: Kilimanjaro Safari

Elephants are one of the most popular zoo animals and the largest land mammal on Earth. These highly intelligent behemoths are unusual and impressive in appearance yet are seemingly gentle. Of course, what the public does not realize is that elephants kill or injure more zookeepers than any other animal. This stems from their incredible strength more than any real aggression. Plus, elephants require more hands-on care by the keepers than just about any other type of critter. The massive African bulls are the most aggressive and can weigh up to 6 tons, with females topping the scales at about 4 tons.

One of the most frequently asked questions about elephants is whats the difference between the African and Asian types. The Africans are much larger with significantly bigger ears. There is a smaller forest type of the African species but at Disney's Animal Kingdom we see the savannah kind. Elephants in general use their large ears as fans, but they also contain numerous blood vessels close to the skin to help the cooling process. The distinctive trunk is used for breathing, smelling and as an extra limb which can grab food with its nimble end. The animals have 4 useful teeth which are huge and grooved. These can only be replaced 6 times in their lives and many an old animal dies from starvation after losing its last set. This usually occurs around the 70th year. The famous tusks (unlike Asian elephants, both males and females have tusks in Africa) are actually incisor teeth.

The most endearing quality of the elephants is its family life, at least among the females. These groups are matriarchal, meaning a group is lead by the dominant female. The rest of the herd is comprised of other females and the young. Bulls are driven away once they reach puberty and live on thier own or in a bachelor herd until they get their own group. Males join herds only briefly to breed. Females reach maturity at about 14 years of age and give birth after a 22 month gestational period, that is, their pregancy lasts nearly 2 years. No wonder the boys take off (Just kidding). The calf is about 250 pounds at birth and will suckle for up to 2 years. A female gives birth every 4 years or so and usually has 3 or 4 young with her at any given time.

The family members stay in constant contact with one another. In fact, at the Bronx Zoo, it was recently discovered that the 2 separate groups were consistently calling one another at other ends of the 250+ acre park. These calls were too low for the human ear to pick up. However, we can sometimes hear elephants call one another in a low gargling noise.

The famed legend of the elephant graveyard comes from the behavior of elephants greiving over the loss of a family member. Elephants have been known to bury their dead with leaves and twigs- a behavior only shared by man. The herd will sometimes spend days at the corpse of a dead elephant often touching and caressing the body. This was first recorded by the Roman writer, Pliny. In fact, it has been shown that elephants once back at the site of a long dead family member may caress the bones left behind. This may also account for its legendary memory in folklore.

Elephants eat a lot. The diet consists of a large variety of grasses, foliage, fruit and twigs. They eat all day and night. They can digest as much as 500 pounds of vegetation a day and can drink as much as 40 gallons of water at a time. Despite this, man has long domesticated the animals. The first domesticated elephants appear in accounts in India around 5500 BC. In fact, elephants have always played an important role in that culture's unique mythology.

As we all know, the elephant is highly endangered. Hunting has been banned but, as Little Red can tell you, poaching is still a major problem, especially with the price of ivory being so high. Gamekeepers are now heavily armed in order to protect the herds from even heavier armed poachers. In Kenya alone, the population dropped from 150,000 to 30,000 in 10 years. During the 1980s, it is estimated that nearly half of Africa's 1.2 million elephants were killed almost exclusively by poachers.