ElephantsSpecies profile

Elephant

Q: How many species of elephant are there?

Three: the African savanna elephant, the African forest elephant and the Asian elephant.

Q: How long do elephants live?

Wild elephants can live 60 to 70 years. Elephants in zoos usually live shorter lives.

Q: How much does an elephant weigh?

A savanna bull weighs around 6 tonnes; the largest on record was about 10 tonnes. Asian elephants are lighter.

Q: Why do elephants have tusks?

Tusks are enlarged incisor teeth used for digging, stripping bark, lifting and fighting.

Q: What is the difference between African and Asian elephants?

African elephants are larger with big ears and two trunk tips; Asian elephants have smaller ears, one trunk tip and a twin-domed head.

Q: Are elephants related to mammoths?

Yes. Mammoths were elephants; the woolly mammoth was closest to the Asian elephant.

Family Elephantidae · 3 living species · Loxodonta and Elephas

By Strange Animals · Updated 13 Nov 2026 · 14 sources

The largest land animals alive, with the biggest brains of any land mammal. Elephants live in families led by their oldest female, talk in rumbles too low for us to hear, and reshape whole landscapes as they feed.

Meet the 3 species See the numbers

OrderProboscidea

Lives inAfrica, South and Southeast Asia

IUCN statusEndangered to Critically Endangered

DietGrass, bark, fruit

ELEPHANTS AT A GLANCE

Elephants are the three living species of the family Elephantidae: the African savanna (bush) elephant, the African forest elephant and the Asian elephant. The savanna elephant is the largest land animal on Earth. Females and young live in family groups led by the oldest female, the matriarch; adult males mostly live alone or in loose groups. All three species are threatened, mainly by ivory poaching, habitat loss and conflict with farmers.

Figures graded and sourced in the fact sheet below.

KEY DISCOVERIES

1972Amboseli projectCynthia Moss begins following Amboseli families; it is now the longest-running elephant study.

1986InfrasoundKaty Payne discovers elephants call below the range of human hearing.

2001Old matriarchs know bestFamilies with older matriarchs react better to threats (McComb et al.).

2006Mirror testAn Asian elephant at the Bronx Zoo recognises herself in a mirror.

2016Great Elephant CensusSavanna elephant numbers fell by about 30% in seven years.

2021Two African speciesIUCN lists forest and savanna elephants separately.

ONLY IN THE ELEPHANT

What makes the elephant unlike any other animal?

Short answer: A trunk with no bones, a brain that keeps maps for decades, and the ability to hear through its feet.

01A nose that works as a handThe trunk is the upper lip and nose fused, with no bones and tens of thousands of muscle bundles. It can pick up a single peanut or lift a log.Dagenais et al. 2021

02Calls too low to hearRumbles go down to about 14 Hz, below human hearing, and can carry for several kilometres.Payne et al. 1986

03Listening through the groundElephants detect rumbles and footsteps as vibrations through their feet and trunk.O’Connell-Rodwell 2007

04The longest pregnancyAbout 22 months, the longest of any living mammal.Lueders et al. 2012

05Landscape engineersBy pushing over trees, digging waterholes and spreading seeds in dung, elephants shape the habitat for thousands of other species.Haynes 2012

06Self-recognitionOne of few animals to pass the mirror test, alongside great apes, dolphins and magpies.Plotnik et al. 2006

FACT SHEET

How big do elephants get?

Short answer: A savanna bull stands up to about 4 m at the shoulder and weighs around 6 tonnes; the largest on record was about 10 tonnes.

MeasuredEstimatedQuoted, unverified

Shoulder height, malesMeasuredup to ~4 mSavanna bull3.2 to 4 mAsian bull2.5 to 3 mSavanna elephants are tallest; forest elephants smallest

Weight, malesMeasured~6 t, up to ~10 tSavanna bull~6 tRecord bull~10 tRecord: a bull shot in Angola in 1974, about 3.96 m tall; weight estimated

BrainMeasured~5 kgElephant~5 kgHuman~1.35 kgLargest brain of any land animal; about 257 billion neurons

PregnancyMeasured~22 monthsElephant~22 moOrca~17 moLongest of any living mammal. Calves weigh about 100 kg

Lifespan in the wildEstimated60 to 70 yearsWild females60 to 70Zoo elephants~17 to 19 medianZoo figure: medians for African (16.9) and Asian (18.9) females in European zoos (Clubb et al. 2008)

Daily foodEstimated~150 kgFood~150 kgWaterup to ~150 L+Feeds 12 to 18 hours a day; digests under half of it

African elephants leftEstimated~415,0002016~415,0001979~1.3 millionIUCN African Elephant Status Report 2016; both African species combined

Asian elephants leftEstimated< 50,000Wild Asian< 50,000About 60% live in India. Estimates are rough

Afraid of miceQuoted, unverifiedn/aNo good evidence. Elephants do startle at small, sudden movements near their feet, mice or not.Common belief

SPECIES

How many kinds of elephant are there?

Short answer: Three. African forest and savanna elephants were confirmed as separate species by DNA, and the IUCN listed them separately in 2021.

African savanna elephantENDANGEREDLoxodonta africanaSavannas and woodland of sub-Saharan AfricaLargest; huge ears shaped like Africa; both sexes have tusks.Read the article →African forest elephantCRITICALLY ENDANGEREDLoxodonta cyclotisRainforests of Central and West AfricaSmaller, rounder ears, straight downward tusks; key seed disperser of the rainforest.Read the article →Asian elephantENDANGEREDElephas maximusIndia to BorneoSmall ears, twin-domed head; only some males have tusks.Read the article →

Outline sizes show relative shoulder height. Borneo’s “pygmy” elephants are a small Asian elephant population, not a separate species.

THE TRUNK

What can an elephant do with its trunk?

Short answer: Almost everything: breathe, smell, drink, grab, greet, fight and snorkel. It has no bones, only muscle.

What the trunk handlesWater per sipup to ~8 LSuction speedair at ~150 m/s in testsLoad liftedup to ~350 kgSmell genes~2,000 olfactory receptor genes, about 5× oursSchulz et al. 2021; Niimura et al. 2014.

Two "fingers"African elephants have two finger-like tips; Asian elephants have one and wrap instead.

SnorkelElephants swim with the trunk raised above water.

GreetingTrunks touch mouths and faces to greet and comfort.

A year to learnCalves cannot use their trunk well for months and often suck on it like a thumb.

FAMILY

Who leads an elephant family?

Short answer: The oldest female, the matriarch. Her memory of water, danger and other families decides where the group goes.

A family groupMatriarchOldest female; leads and remembersAdult daughters and sistersHelp protect and raise calvesYoung malesLeave at about 12 to 15 yearsCalvesRaised by the whole family

Age mattersFamilies with older matriarchs judge the threat of lions and strangers better.

AllomothersYoung females practise care on others’ calves, which improves calf survival.

MusthAdult bulls enter a period of high testosterone, aggression and a gland secretion.

Bull clubsOlder bulls calm younger ones; where they were culled, young males became more violent.

COMMUNICATION

How do elephants communicate?

Short answer: With low rumbles, trumpets, touch and smell, and through ground vibrations they sense with their feet.

RumblesMost calls are rumbles, many below human hearing, carrying several kilometres.

Seismic signalsRumbles and stamps travel through the ground; elephants pick them up through their feet.

NamesWild African elephants appear to address each other with individual name-like calls (Pardo et al. 2024).

MEMORY AND MIND

Do elephants really never forget?

Short answer: Not literally, but their long-term memory is exceptional: matriarchs recall water sources and the voices of other families for decades.

Read: elephant memory, the real science →

Decades-long recallMatriarchs recognise calls of more than 100 other elephants (McComb et al. 2000).

Drought mapsIn the 1993 Tanzanian drought, families led by old matriarchs who remembered an earlier drought survived better.

Interest in the deadElephants investigate elephant bones and bodies more than other animals’ (McComb et al. 2006).

EVOLUTION

What is the elephant’s closest relative?

Short answer: Living: manatees and dugongs, then hyraxes. Extinct: the woolly mammoth, which was closer to the Asian elephant than African elephants are.

Woolly mammoth →

Relationships only, not to time scale. After Rohland et al. 2007 and Meyer et al. 2017.

THREATS AND CONSERVATION

Why are elephants endangered?

Short answer: Ivory poaching drove the steepest losses; today habitat loss and conflict with farmers are just as serious, especially for Asian elephants.

Endangered register →

Ivory poachingHIGHForest elephants fell by about 62% between 2002 and 2011 (Maisels et al. 2013).

Habitat lossHIGHFarms, roads and settlements break up ranges and migration routes.

Human-elephant conflictHIGHCrop raiding leads to retaliatory killings; in India, elephants and people both die each year.

Tuskless evolutionWATCHPoaching made tuskless females far more common in Mozambique’s Gorongosa (Campbell-Staton et al. 2021).

Ivory trade banInternational trade banned under CITES since 1989; China closed its domestic market in 2017.

CorridorsProtected routes link ranges, like the KAZA area across five southern African countries.

Beehive fencesElephants avoid bees; hive fences cut crop raiding on farms in Kenya (King et al. 2017).

Orphan rescueOrphanages raise calves and return them to the wild.

MYTH OR FACT

Six elephant claims, checked

3Myths1Half true2Facts

01MYTH“Elephants are afraid of mice.”WHERE IT CAME FROMFolklore, cartoons and a 2007 MythBusters episode.

WHAT THE EVIDENCE SAYSThere is no evidence of a specific fear of mice. Any small thing moving fast near the feet can startle them.

WHAT IS TRUE INSTEADThey startle at surprise, not mice.Sources: see list below

02HALF TRUE“Elephants never forget.”WHERE IT CAME FROMStories of elephants recognising people after decades.

WHAT THE EVIDENCE SAYSLong-term memory is excellent for calls, routes and individuals, but it has limits like any brain.

WHAT IS TRUE INSTEADExceptional memory, not perfect memory.Sources: see list below

03MYTH“Elephants go to graveyards to die.”WHERE IT CAME FROMPiles of bones found near water.

WHAT THE EVIDENCE SAYSOld elephants with worn teeth stay near water and soft plants, so many die in the same places.

WHAT IS TRUE INSTEADNo ritual graveyards.Sources: see list below

04MYTH“Elephants get drunk on fermented marula fruit.”WHERE IT CAME FROMPopular film footage.

WHAT THE EVIDENCE SAYSAn elephant would need far more fermented fruit than it could eat to get drunk (Morris et al. 2006).

WHAT IS TRUE INSTEADMost likely a story.Sources: see list below

05FACT“Elephants cannot jump.”WHERE IT CAME FROMTheir leg structure.

WHAT THE EVIDENCE SAYSElephants always keep at least one foot on the ground, even at their fastest.

WHAT IS TRUE INSTEADTrue, and they rarely run in the strict sense.Sources: see list below

06FACT“Big ears keep elephants cool.”WHERE IT CAME FROMBlood vessels in the ears.

WHAT THE EVIDENCE SAYSFlapping the ears cools blood flowing through them; African elephants’ larger ears suit hotter habitats.

WHAT IS TRUE INSTEADEars work as radiators.Sources: see list below

OPEN QUESTIONS

What science still doesn’t know

?What do rumbles say?Hundreds of call types are recorded; their exact meanings are mostly unknown.

?How do they use names?Name-like calls were found in 2024; how they are learned is unclear.

?Why so few cancers?Elephants carry about 20 copies of the anti-cancer gene TP53; how this works in full is still studied.

?How many forest elephants?Rainforest counts are hard, and estimates vary widely.

?Do they grieve?Behaviour around the dead is clear; what they feel is not.

?Can tusklessness reverse?If poaching stops, will tusks come back, and how fast?

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

How many species of elephant are there?+

Three: the African savanna elephant, the African forest elephant and the Asian elephant.

How long do elephants live?+

Wild elephants can live 60 to 70 years. Elephants in zoos usually live shorter lives.

How much does an elephant weigh?+

A savanna bull weighs around 6 tonnes; the largest on record was about 10 tonnes. Asian elephants are lighter.

Why do elephants have tusks?+

Tusks are enlarged incisor teeth used for digging, stripping bark, lifting and fighting.

What is the difference between African and Asian elephants?+

African elephants are larger with big ears and two trunk tips; Asian elephants have smaller ears, one trunk tip and a twin-domed head.

Are elephants related to mammoths?+

Yes. Mammoths were elephants; the woolly mammoth was closest to the Asian elephant.

COMPARE AND EXPLORE

Explore elephants further

TOPICElephants subtopicOpen →TOOLSize ComparisonOpen →TOOLLifespan LookupOpen →TOOLHearing RangeOpen →

HOW WE KNOW

Sources and how we check

This page is written by Strange Animals and checked against primary research. Every figure carries a grade and a numbered source.

Cite this pageStrange Animals. (2026, November 13). Elephants: species, trunk, family, memory and conservation. https://strangeanimals.info/mammals/elephants/elephant

01Payne, K. B. et al. Infrasonic calls of the Asian elephant. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 181986
02McComb, K. et al. Unusually extensive networks of vocal recognition in African elephants. Animal Behaviour 592000
03McComb, K. et al. Matriarchs as repositories of social knowledge in African elephants. Science 292: 491-4942001
04Plotnik, J. M. et al. Self-recognition in an Asian elephant. PNAS 103: 170532006
05Thouless, C. R. et al. African Elephant Status Report 2016. IUCN SSC Occasional Paper 602016
06Chase, M. J. et al. Continent-wide survey reveals massive decline in African savannah elephants. PeerJ 4: e23542016
07Maisels, F. et al. Devastating decline of forest elephants in Central Africa. PLoS ONE 8: e594692013
08Campbell-Staton, S. C. et al. Ivory poaching and the rapid evolution of tusklessness in African elephants. Science 374: 483-4872021
09Pardo, M. A. et al. African elephants address one another with individually specific name-like calls. Nature Ecology & Evolution 82024
10Schulz, A. K. et al. Suction feeding by elephants. Journal of the Royal Society Interface 182021
11Rohland, N. et al. Proboscidean mitogenomics: chronology and mode of elephant evolution. PLoS Biology 5: e2072007
12Clubb, R. et al. Compromised survivorship in zoo elephants. Science 322: 16492008
13Morris, S. et al. Myth, marula, and elephant: an assessment of voluntary ethanol intoxication. Physiological and Biochemical Zoology 792006
14King, L. E. et al. Beehive fences as a multidimensional conflict-mitigation tool. Conservation Biology 312017