So what are the African elephant’s predators?Īnimals who stand a chance of taking on an elephant rely on at least one of two factors: power, or overwhelming numbers.Įven then, most will look for a young, sick or frail member of the elephant herd to attack. ![]() But from time to time, another animal hasn’t read the rules and attacks out of hunger and desperation. Which Animals Eat Elephants?Īs we mentioned, elephants have no natural predators in the wild. There’s also an unexpected “enemy” that elephants seem to fear – but more about that later.įirst, let’s talk about the four African predators in the wild that might have a chance of attacking, killing, and eating an African elephant. We know of four main candidates in this regard. Only the most powerful and opportunistic will have a chance of succeeding as an African elephant’s natural predator. That doesn’t mean that other animals don’t try. ![]() Chances are, they’re going to have a bad day if they get it wrong. When it comes to the food chain, remarkably few other species fancy attacking an elephant. Do Any Animals Kill Elephants?Īfrican elephants have no natural predators… officially. We don’t generally think of elephants as prey. They are also incredibly powerful and can overturn cars, destroy large patches of land and deal decisively with any trouble from other animals and people. As poaching continues unabated, and interest in extracting Central Africa's resources increases while high levels of corruption hinder conservation efforts, forest elephant populations become increasingly at risk.It’s difficult to describe how enormous and imposing an African elephant is, especially to someone who has never seen one in person.Ī bull elephant can stand more than three meters tall, and weigh up to six tonnes. Fewer than 100,000 are estimated to remain, which is 10 percent of their estimated historical abundance. POPULATION TREND: Forest elephants have declined by over 62 percent in just nine years (2002-2011), and by 80 percent in two elephant generations (ca. THREATS: Forest elephants are threatened by historical and current rampant poaching, trade pressures, habitat conversion due to the expansion of natural resource extraction and logging, and civil unrest. Living in the rainforests allows forest elephants the luxury of being highly frugivorous, and the seed dispersal provided by them is crucial to the maintenance of tree diversity in Central Africa - which houses the world's second largest rainforest. ![]() They may spend 70 to 90 percent of their days foraging, consuming 100 to 300 kilograms of food. LIFE CYCLE: Forest elephants may live to be up to 70 years old.įEEDING: Forest elephants are generalists that feed on trees, shrubs, grasses, herbs and fruits, depending on their ability. ![]() Elephants do not reach sexual maturity until they are between 14 and 17 years old, most males, however, are mostly unsuccessful at mating until they are much older, and females may only conceive every three to nine years. Elephants have the longest gestation period of any animal at 22 months, and twinning is rare, though it does happen. In optimal conditions elephants may reproduce at a rate of 6 percent. Reproductive rates for both species are considered one of the slowest and most energy-intensive. Other small populations occur in West Africa in the forested regions of C te d'Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Guinea and Liberia.īREEDING: The breeding strategies for forest and savannah elephants are assumed to be mostly the same. RANGE: The majority of remaining forest elephant populations occur in Central Africa, in the countries of Gabon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of Congo, Central Africa Republic and Cameroon. HABITAT: Forest elephants occupy the rainforests of West and Central Africa. Both elephant species exhibit sexual dimorphism, where males are larger than females, with wider-set tusks, more rounded foreheads and less curvature in their spines. They also have straighter, thinner tusks, more rounded ears and differently shaped skulls. DESCRIPTION: Forest elephants are the smaller of the two African elephant species.
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