How much does an elephant weigh? What is the largest living land mammal? Do any other animals weigh as much as an elephant? Wonder What's Next? Join us in Wonderopolis tomorrow as we dive under the sea in search of money! Try It Out Are you ready to learn more about elephants? Be sure to check out the following activities with a friend or family member: Would you love to see a herd of elephants in the wild? We would! For now, though, we have to be content with looking at pictures online, since we can't get away for a safari.
If you love seeing elephants, check out National Geographic's Photo Gallery: Elephants for some cool photos of these beautiful beasts! Want to learn more about the African elephant? Head over to National Geographic Kids to check out lots of cool facts about elephants.
Write down of the most interesting facts you learn and share them with a friend or family member. Challenge a few friends to the game to see who can move to the highest level. Did you get it? Test your knowledge. Wonder Words pet dog raise food hunt wild befriend territory venture certainly unusual mammal relationship responsible providing encounter advantage perspective Take the Wonder Word Challenge. Join the Discussion. I think ,weigh of elephant is pounds. Sep 26, Hi cutiepai!
We suggest reading this Wonder--weight is discussed starting in paragraph 7. I did not know that that elephants weigh around 5,, pounds. Oct 8, We're glad that you learned a new fact about elephants, emily! Jul 31, Ayaan Jul 28, Elephants also love to find sweet fruits and green shrubs. Often, these are only available seasonally. Year-round, African elephants enjoy grasses, twigs, leaves, fresh green shoots, bark and vines.
That translates to roughly kg of food of mostly lightweight leafy greens. Elephant teeth are also fascinating. Instead, their baby teeth will remain until they get damaged or fall out. The enamel cap eventually wears down. When a tooth gets lost or broken, a new one will simply replace it on demand.
Each new tooth will grow back larger and stronger than the previous one. So now you know that the average elephant weight in tons is based on the type of elephant. How many tons does an elephant weigh? For a chance to see these large, majestic animals up close, check out some amazing safari deals. Editorial Team at Africa Freak is a group of expert Africa writers and influencers. We're all about safari and celebrating wild Africa.
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Celebrate Wild Africa With Us! Previous What is the most dangerous animal in Africa? Next What do lions eat? About The Author. Related Posts. Leave a reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Africa Freak. There is some ongoing debate about how many subspecies may exist, or whether some of these might, in fact, be species in their own right. Here are a few ways to tell them apart:. African elephants are the largest mammals on land. Cool ears! As elephants flap their ears on a hot day, the blood flowing through the many blood vessels in the ears is cooled.
If they have just splashed around in a river, all the better! This ear flapping behavior cools their large bodies on warm days.
The skinny on skin. Elephants often spray themselves with water or roll in the mud or dust for protection from the sun and biting insects. Really long in the tooth. They are used for defense, digging for water and food, and lifting things. The tusks present at birth are milk teeth, which fall out after a year when they are about 2 inches 5 centimeters long. Elephants also have four molars, one on the top and one on the bottom on both sides of the mouth.
One molar can weigh about 5 pounds 2. Each elephant can go through up to six sets of molars in its lifetime. New teeth do not erupt vertically, as in most mammals, but grow in from behind, pushing the old worn-out teeth forward and out, like a production line of teeth moving along the jaw from back to front.
In very old elephants, the last sixth set of molars can become sensitive and worn down, and the elephants they prefer to eat softer food. Marshes are the perfect place for soft plant food, so old elephants are often found there. Many times they stay there until they die. This practice led some people to think that elephants went to special burial grounds to die. The nose knows. There are 8 major muscles on each side of the trunk and , muscle fascicles portions of muscles for the entire trunk.
There are no bones or cartilage in this unique appendage. Elephants also use their trunk like we use our hands: to grab, hold, pick up, reach, touch, pull, push, and throw. The trunk is still a nose, too, and has two nostrils at the end that suck air up the long nasal passages and into the lungs.
Sounds of music. Elephants make many different sounds; humans cannot hear some of these sounds, as their frequency is too low for our ears. Elephants use these sounds to communicate with each other over long distances. Have you ever had your stomach growl at an unfortunate moment? The largest elephant on record was an adult male African savanna elephant.
He weighed about 24, pounds 10, kilograms and was 13 feet 3. Home is where the herd is. By the early 20th century, their numbers had dropped to 10 million. Hunting continued to increase. By , their numbers were down to 1. Between and , hunting and poaching put the African elephant at risk of extinction, reducing its population by another half.
In the years since, poaching has continued to threaten both species: Savanna elephants declined by 30 percent between and , while forest elephants declined by 64 percent from to as poaching worsened in Central and West Africa. In , the International Union for Conservation of Nature recognized them as separate species for the first time , listing savanna elephants as endangered and forest elephants as critically endangered.
As few as , remain today. Compounding the problem is how long it takes for elephants to reproduce. With reproduction rates hovering around 5 to 6 percent , there are simply not enough calves being born to make up for the losses from poaching.
African elephants are also losing their habitat as the human population grows and people convert land for agriculture and development. Elephants need a lot of room, so habitat destruction and fragmentation not only makes it harder for them to find food, water, and each other, but it also puts them in increased conflict with humans.
The decision to recognize African elephants as two separate species is seen as an important step for conservation, as it highlights the different challenges that each species faces. Scientists hope that the listing will bring more attention to forest elephants, which have often been overlooked by governments and donors when grouped together with more visible savanna elephants.
African elephants are protected to varying degrees in all the countries of their geographic range. There have been recent efforts to bring re-legalize the international trade in ivory, but those so far have failed. Conservation groups and governments have worked to set aside land for wildlife— including corridors that connect those protected lands.
Still, researchers believe that up to 70 percent of elephants' range is on unprotected land. To curb poaching, stopping the illegal trade is key. Advocates have launched campaigns that address both the supply side poaching and the demand side people who buy ivory. Since the ban went into effect, public demand for ivory seems to have fallen. On the supply side, protecting elephants from poaching also requires a local approach.
In , a study showed that the suffering of elephants is tied to that of the humans living nearby: Regions with high levels of poverty and corruption are more likely to have higher poaching rates. This suggests that helping communities develop sustainable livelihoods could reduce the lure of poaching.
Elephant family members show signs of grief and may revisit the bones of the deceased for years, touching them with their trunks. All rights reserved.
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