African Elephant

Loxodonta africana

Imagine a creature as big as a truck, with a hose-like nose that serves as a snorkel, a drinking straw, a squirt-gun, a trumpet, and a feeding tool powerful enough to rip branches from trees but delicate enough to pick up a pea. Throw in huge, sail-like ears, a pair of curved front teeth that grow throughout the animal's entire lifetime, and a ropy tail, and you've got the African Elephant! There are two types of elephants in Africa: Savanna Elephants and smaller Forest Elephants.

Look For : A huge, rotund gray to brown wrinkled animal with large, fanlike ears, and an extremely long nose and snout able to grasp items in its tip. Skin nearly hairless. Tusks long and curved; record length 11' long and weighing 286 lb. each.

Length : Body (including outstretched trunk) to 25' long, height 8-11'; 4,000-13,000 lb.

Habitat : Rain forests to desert-like habitats, swamps, seashores, and edges of mountain forests.

Range : Africa. Small pockets of Forest Elephants live in western Africa; Savanna Elephants occur widely south of the Sahara.