African Elephant Facts
for Kids

The best current estimate is approximately 415,000 African savanna elephants and 100,000–120,000 African forest elephants (now classified as a separate species, Loxodonta cyclotis). The savanna species has declined by 60% in the last 50 years, primarily due to poaching and habitat loss.

Elephants have the largest brain of any land animal (approximately 5 kg) and demonstrate self-awareness, tool use, problem-solving, empathy, and long-term memory. They are one of only a handful of species that can recognize themselves in a mirror. Matriarchs can remember the locations of water sources visited decades earlier.

African savanna elephants are Endangered primarily due to poaching for ivory (approximately 20,000 elephants are killed annually for their tusks), habitat loss from agricultural expansion, and human-elephant conflict as farms encroach on traditional migration corridors. Climate change is also reducing available water in many habitats.

A newborn African elephant calf weighs approximately 90–120 kg (200–265 lb) and stands about 90 cm (3 ft) tall at birth. Elephant pregnancy lasts 22 months — the longest of any mammal. Calves nurse for 2–3 years and stay with their mother's family group for life (females) or until age 12–14 (males).

African elephants are larger (up to 6 tonnes vs. 4 tonnes), have larger, fan-shaped ears (Asian ears are smaller and rounded), and both males and females grow tusks (only some male Asian elephants have tusks). African elephants also have a concave back and two 'fingers' on the tip of their trunk, while Asian elephants have a domed back and one 'finger.'