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The African elephant is the largest living land mammal. Bulls may reach a height of 3 - 4,5 m at the shoulder and can weigh up to 6000 kg. They may live seventy years or more and never stop growing. These hungry animals do not sleep much, and they roam over great distances while foraging for the large quantities of food that they require to sustain their massive bodies. Elephants drink up to 225 litres and eat up to 300 kg of greeen stuff a day. Having a baby elephant is a serious commitment. At birth, elephants already weigh some 90 kilograms and stand about 1 meter tall. Their trunk alone contains about 100,000 different muscles used for smelling, breathing, trumpeting, drinking, and also for grabbing things.

 

Elephants are gregarious and form small family groups consisting of an older matriarch and several generations of relatives. These family groups are often visited by mature males, who check for females in estrus. Watching these herds and their social structure is still one of the most fascinating experiences to me while being on safari. Smell is the most highly developed sense, but sound deep growling or rumbling noises is the principle means of communication. Sometimes elephants communicate with an ear-splitting blast when in danger or alarmed, causing others to form a protective circle around the younger members of the family group (which can be quite impressive :-)!!!).

 

Both male and female African elephants have tusks they use to dig for food and water and strip bark from trees. Males use the tusks to battle one another, but the ivory has also attracted violence of a far more dangerous sort.  Because ivory is so valuable to some humans, many elephants have been killed for their tusks in the past. Tusks differ in size, shape and angle and researchers can use them to identify individuals. A genetic reaction to the years of slaughter is producing a dramatic increase in the number of elephants born with short or without any tusks. In areas that were hit by the poaching period in the eighties like Ruaha NP in Tanzania and North Luangwa NP or Lower Zambezi NP in Zambia you'll hardly find any "tuskers".

These areas are elephant country and you won't leave without spotting any of these giants:

- Amboseli National Park, Kenya
- Caprivi stripe, Namibia
- Etosha National Park, Namibia
- Lower Zambezi National Park, Zambia
- Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda
- Ruaha National Park, Tanzania
- Samburu & Buffalo Springs Game Reserves, Kenya
- Tsavo East National Park, Kenya