African Forest Elephants’s Movements Depend on Their Personalities

African forest elephants roam the dense rainforests of West and Central Africa where they subsist largely on a diet of fruit. They shape forests by dispersing fruit and seeds, browsing, and creating an extensive trail network.

African bush elephants (Loxodonta africana)

Elephants are the largest land animals in the world, and African elephants are bigger than Asian elephants. Two species of African elephants exist African forest elephants and African bush elephants. The bush elephant is the larger of the two.

Adult African bush elephants can weigh 18,000 pounds and stand at a shoulder height of 13 feet. They are considered the strongest land animal and strongest mammals in the world by pure strength. An African bush elephant can lift a 250 kg object with just its trunk.

Despite their enormous size, elephants are agile and can run as fast as 40 miles per hour. They can also walk long distances and cover 25 to 195 km per day in search of food and shelter. Read more about these amazing majestic animals in our elephant facts.

Elephants only eat plants

Elephants are herbivores; they eat fruits, grasses, roots, and tree bark. They use the tusks on either side of their face to forage food. The African forest elephant seems to enjoy salt and will consume soil or other sources of sodium. Elephants can consume up to 136 kilograms of food and drink 113 to 190 liters of water daily. 

Elephants have a large appetite, so they spend a lot of time eating. Adult elephants spend most of their days roaming across long distances to find food. Elephants walk for 1 to 4 miles a day in search of food.

The elephant has extremely long incisors

One of the special things about elephants is their upper incisor teeth, which grow to be quite a prominent feature. We call the elongated teeth tusks, and they can be as long as 11 feet. The tusk is hollowed, and the hollow contains pulp with nerve tissues. Elephants have one-third of the tusk embedded in the cranium, and the remaining two-thirds are visible.

Both female and male African elephants have tusks, and the tusks never stop growing. In Asian elephants, only male Asian elephants have tusks, and not every male will get them. Most Asian elephants, however, do have small tusks, called tushes, which seldom protrude about an inch or two from the lip line.

Elephant tusks protect the elephant's trunk and work for self-defense. They use them to gather food, move objects, and strip bark from trees. Elephants even use their tusks to dig holes that allow them access to water during drought season. Individual elephants can be left or right-tusked, and the tusks they use the most are usually smaller because of wear and tear.

Elephants worked for humans

Time and time again, man has looked to the animal kingdom for labor. Elephants were used as beasts of burden not so long ago. The armies of the Persian Empire, the Indian subcontinent, and Alexander the Great used adult male elephants in their war efforts. 

Elephants can carry loads weighing over 500 kg, and humans have taken advantage of that strength to transport heavy loads or plow fields.

People regard elephants as one of Africa’s ‘top five’ wildlife animals, and elephants are popular with tourists. The tourism industry benefits from using elephants as a carriage for visitors. Tourists can enjoy rides on the backs of elephants as they go sightseeing in the jungle. Communities that can manage the elephant population around them safely and humanely can benefit from tourism income.

Taxonomic Classification (Elephant)

Elephants are part of the family Elephantidae within the order Proboscidea. Three extant species are recognized today: African bush, African forest, and Asian elephant.

The African bush elephant is the largest, known for its ears shaped like the African continent. Meanwhile, the African forest elephant, smaller and darker, lives in dense tropical forests.

On the other side of the globe, the Asian elephant is primarily found in the forests and grasslands of the Southeast Asian region. Three recognized subspecies exist: the Indian, Sumatran, and Sri Lankan elephants.

Additionally, recent studies add a fourth subspecies, the Bornean elephant. This population, residing in northern Borneo, sets itself apart by its smaller build yet larger ears, extended tail, and straight tusks. Genetic examinations reveal their diversion from their mainland counterparts about 300,000 years ago. 

According to a 2003 study, this elephant population from Borneo shares its DNA makeup with the elephants that once roamed the Sunda Islands1. The study further suggests a prolonged separation of the Borneo elephants from Southeast Asian elephant populations since the Pleistocene era.

In the following sections, learn where each of them lives and how to distinguish them from each other easily.

African Savanna Elephant (Loxodonta africana)

African Savanna Elephants are the largest terrestrial animals in the world. They are also known as the African bush elephant. Male elephants stand up to 13 feet tall and weigh up to 23,000 pounds. They have large ears and a versatile trunk; their skin is wrinkled and grey-brown. 

These giant herbivores consume almost 330 pounds of food daily throughout various environments across sub-Saharan Africa.

The oldest female in a herd usually leads the group, acting as the matriarch to ensure the safety and well-being of the herd. Moreover, these African elephants engage in practical, fun activities like mud-bathing, protecting themselves from the sun, and keeping parasites away.

African Forest Elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis)

African Forest Elephants live in the dense forests of West and Central Africa. While they live on the same continent, they are a separate species from the savanna elephant. They typically grow up to 9.8 feet tall and weigh up to 15,400 pounds. They also have round heads and straight tusks. 

It mostly eats leaves, tree bark, and a variety of fruits. These types of elephants are the most frugivorous among the elephant species. They defecate the seeds as they travel long distances, making them mega gardeners of the forest.

However, this smaller African Elephant faces rampant deforestation and relentless poaching driven by the global demand for ivory. Their slow reproduction rate makes their survival even more challenging.

Studying them is challenging for scientists since these elephants are shy and tend to gather in smaller family units. Moreover, their habitats are relatively inaccessible.

Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus)

Asian Elephants inhabit various habitats ranging from India and Nepal to Southeast Asia, including Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, and Malaysia. 

They are smaller than their African counterparts, standing at 9 feet and weighing 8,800 pounds on average. Their heads have two humps and small, rounded ears. 

Only male Asian elephants have long tusks, while females have small ones called tushes. However, some may never grow tusks, depending on their genetic makeup. These megaherbivores consume up to 330 pounds of vegetation daily, including grass, leaves, shoots, barks, fruits, nuts, and seeds.

Sri Lankan Elephant (Elephas maximus maximus)

The Sri Lankan elephant is the largest Asian elephant species. They can grow up to 11.5 feet tall and up to 12,100 pounds. They have a darker skin tone and unique patches of depigmentation on their ears, face, trunk, and belly. 

This elephant inhabits the dry zones of Sri Lanka and feeds on grasses, leaves, stems, and bark, consuming up to 150 kg of food daily. They are social animals whose herds typically consist of 12-20 individuals, led by the oldest female.

Elephants hold centuries-long significance in Sinhalese and Sri Lankan Tamil cultures, featuring prominently in heraldic symbols, coats of arms, and flags. Integral to religious processions, Buddhist and Hindu temples have often kept their own elephants, indicating a deep-rooted human-elephant co-existence.

Unfortunately, Sri Lankan elephants face threats from human encroachment2, land mines, and occasional ivory poaching. With high elephant mortality rates, an annual average of 370 deaths were recorded in recent years.