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.

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.

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.