Elephants (loxodonta africana) Facts & Information
Elephants facts and information gives you all you need to know about Africa’s gentle giants.
Member of that elite order called the Big 5, you will find elephants in all of the southern African countries.
Watch an elephant herd near water. They will drink, bathe, swim, roll around; all part of their love affair with water.
After the bathing ritual comes the mud bath, after which the sand bath and then every so slowly they move on to forage.
Elephant physical description
Mass –from 5000 to 6300kg (male) from 2800 – 3500kg (female)
Shoulder Height – 3.2 to 4 metres (male) 2.5 to 3.4 metres (female)
Tusks
Are greatly elongated incisors (elephants have no canine teeth); about one-third of their total length lies hidden inside the skull. The largest tusk ever recorded weighed 214 pounds and was 138 inches long.
Tusks of this size are not found on elephants in Africa today, as over the years hunters and poachers have taken animals with the largest tusks.
Because tusk size is an inherited characteristic, it is rare to find one now that would weigh more than 100 pounds