African Elephant Habitat

The African elephant is an elephant species native to the continent of Africa. Slightly bigger than its Asian counterpart, the African elephant is the largest land mammal on the planet. The habitat of the African elephant spans over the entire African continent, except for the Sahara desert, and contributes as one of the most amazing aspects of the life of this gigantic creature. Before we move on to the African elephant habitat facts, let's try to get some more information about this elephant species in general.

African Elephant Facts

At present there exist two subspecies of the African elephant - the African bush elephant and the African forest elephant. These African elephants are typically characterized by their huge ears and tusks, which also distinguish them from the Asian elephants who have typically rounded ears and only males have tusks. On an average, a male African elephant can attain a height of 12 ft when fully grown, while the females can attain a height of around 9 - 10 ft. In terms of weight, on an average an adult male can weigh up to 12,000 lb, while the female can weigh anywhere between 8,000 to 10,000 lb.

Herbivorous in nature, these elephants feed on grass, shoots, roots and barks. These gigantic creatures tend to live in large groups referred to as herds. They are very fond of water, and spend most of the time near some water source in order to escape the scorching heat in this region. The fact that the African elephants are voracious eaters plays a crucial role in determining their range, as they are always on the lookout for food. On an average, an adult male can feed on approximately 300 lb of food in a single day. A visit to the Savannas, and you will find herds of these mammoth creatures roaming around in the grasslands in search of food or cooling themselves by lazing in the water bodies.

African Elephants: Geographical Range
As we mentioned earlier, the African elephants are found all over the African continent except for the desert region of Sahara. The African bush elephant, also known as the Savanna elephant, has a vast geographical range spanning across various African nations, including Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Botswana and Namibia. The African forest elephant, on the other hand, is predominantly found in the tropical rain forests of the Congo Basin. This species is also found in Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal.

African Elephants: Natural Habitat
The habitat of the African bush elephant ranges from the arid regions of western Niger to the Savanna grasslands of East Africa. These elephant species are known to travel several miles a day in search of food, and hence, it isn't quite surprising to see a herd of the African bush elephant species in the fringe areas of the forest or in the mountainous region. On the other hand, the African forest elephant population is more concentrated in the dense tropical and sub-tropical forests around the Congo Basin.

This was some brief information about the African elephant habitat, which covered the territory of both the subspecies of this animal. Extensive poaching for their valuable tusks, inadequate conservation methods, and loss of habitat, has led to a drastic fall in the African elephant population. Found across the continent in huge numbers at one point of time, today both the subspecies are restricted to small pockets throughout the continent. The African forest elephant is enlisted as 'Vulnerable', while the African bush elephant is enlisted as 'Least Threatened' by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). However, one has to understand that poaching activities in this region have increased tremendously over the last decade or so, and if the ongoing trends continue, it won't take much time for both these species to feature in IUCN Red List, which would be a major loss for the planet Earth.