The biggest on land
A big bull can weigh six tonnes. A newborn calf already weighs about as much as a grown man.
African savanna
African savanna elephant
Loxodonta africana
The largest animal on land: grey and wrinkled, with huge ears, long tusks and a trunk that does the work of a hand.
- Size
- Up to 3.3m tall at the shoulder, and as heavy as four cars
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Savanna, woodland and floodplains of eastern and southern Africa
Walks steadily after you, fanning its ears and swinging its trunk. Move your pointer and see.
When to look
Elephant
Good to know
Six things about the elephant
A nose and a hand
The trunk has tens of thousands of muscles and no bones. It can pull down a branch or pick up a single seed.
Built-in fans
The huge ears are full of blood vessels. Flapping them cools the blood, which cools the whole elephant.
Led by a grandmother
Herds are led by the oldest female, the matriarch. She remembers where to find water in a drought.
Rumbles you cannot hear
Elephants call to each other with rumbles too deep for human ears, which carry for miles across the plain.
Teeth that keep growing
Tusks are teeth that grow all through an elephant's life. They are used for digging, stripping bark and defence.
The real thing
Photos of the elephant
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Photos are from Wikimedia Commons, used under the free licences shown. They have been resized, and cropped where they appear in link previews.
How to spot one
In the wild, look near rivers and waterholes in the dry season, and listen for branches cracking. Fresh droppings the size of footballs mean a herd is close.
How to help
Never buy ivory, new or old. Support charities that protect elephant habitat and help farmers and elephants to live side by side.
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