Endangered Species: The African

elephant
By Gale, Cengage Learning, adapted by Newsela staff
01/16/2018
Word Count 836

Image 1: An African elephant in South Africa's Kruger National Park. The African elephant
is the world's largest land animal. Photo by: Frédéric Soltan/Corbis via Getty Images.

The African elephant is the world's largest living land animal. This mammal is larger than its
relative, the Asian elephant, and has much larger ears. An average adult male stands 10 feet tall
at its shoulder and weighs between 11,000 and 14,000 pounds. Females are a little shorter in
height and weigh between 8,000 and 10,000 pounds.

The animal's thick, loose skin is dark muddy gray in color. Its large ears hold many prominent
veins. The African elephant flaps its ears vigorously to cool its blood during the heat of the day.
Its long white tusks are actually elongated incisor teeth. It has only four other teeth — all molars
— that it uses to grind food. These teeth are replaced up to six times, as they wear away
periodically during an elephant's lifetime, which can be up to 70 years.
Other than its tusks, the elephant has another unique feature — its trunk. The trunk is an
extension of its nose and upper lip. The animal uses its trunk for drinking, bathing, smelling,
breathing, feeling, greeting, communicating and grasping. The African elephant has two
fingerlike tips at the end of its trunk. These are sensitive enough to pick up very small objects.

Image 2: Newsela staff.

African elephants are herbivores. They consume tree bark, fruits, grasses and the leaves of trees
and shrubs. They require approximately 300 to 400 pounds of food and 50 gallons of water a
day! The animals never stray far from a source of water, which they use for drinking, bathing and
cooling. After bathing each day, the elephants coat themselves in dust and dirt for protection
against insects.

Elephants are social animals that form strong family ties. Family units, or herds, are made up of
females, called cows, and their young, called calves. The entire herd is led by an older cow called
the matriarch, to which all other members of the herd are related. When a member of the herd
dies, other members grieve over the loss. They cover the dead elephant with leaves and twigs,
staying by the grave for hours.

Older male elephants, or bulls, live by themselves or with other males in small groups called
bachelor herds. They associate with females only to breed. After a gestation period of about 22
months, a female elephant gives birth to a single calf. The baby weighs between 150 and 300
pounds. Other females are often present during the birth and help keep predators away. The calf
nurses for 6 to 18 months and remains dependent on the mother for four to five years.

Habitat

African elephants are found in most areas of Africa south of the Sahara Desert. Those elephants
living in central or western Africa inhabit forest areas. The elephants in the eastern and
southern regions of the continent live in savanna and bush habitats.

There are thought to be around 500,000 elephants roaming Africa. This is a significant decrease
from the 3 million to 5 million that lived there in the early 20th century. The animals once ranged
in northern Africa up to the Mediterranean coast. They became extinct there during the
European Middle Ages, the period of European history between ancient times and the
Renaissance. The Middle Ages lasted from about the 5th to the 15th century.

Image 3: An African elephant in Botswana uses its trunk to grasp and pull a tree branch. Photo:
Wikimedia Commons.

History And Conservation

As the human population in Africa grows, the elephant's habitat continues to shrink. Habitat loss
is one of the biggest threats to the species. The other threat to the future of African elephants
continues to be poaching. African elephants have been hunted for centuries for their tusks, which
are composed of ivory. This substance has been used to make a variety of items, ranging from
jewelry to piano keys.

In 1989, through the international treaty to protect wildlife known as the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), a
worldwide ban on the sale of elephant ivory was adopted. However, the demand for ivory is high
in the United States and in China. People smuggle it out of Africa in large amounts. Organized
crime syndicates and terrorists also hunt elephants for their tusks. They sell the ivory for money
to buy weapons and ammunition. In 2015, the United States and China began working together
to try to stop the illegal trade of ivory.

Several African countries have also taken steps to protect the animals from poachers and have
established elephant conservation programs. They have set aside national parks and reserves to
try to safeguard the animals and allow tourists to see them in their natural habitat. The African
elephant was downlisted from endangered to vulnerable by the International Union for
Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) in 2004. Up to 70 percent of the species'
range is outside protected land, however. Poachers continue to sneak into protected areas and kill
elephants for their tusks. Poaching activity has increased in recent years.