Savanna elephants live in eastern and southern Africa, where the highest densities are found in Botswana, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Namibia, Mozambique and South Africa. Elephants, the planet’s largest terrestrial mammal, are fascinating creatures that are worth getting to understand. A bull elephant can weigh up to 6 tonnes while a female elephant will weight half of this. Desert Facts for Kids; Ball Python Facts; Dung Beetle. Male offspring leave the family group at puberty, usually around 12-14 years old, and often form loose bachelor herds. Additionally, dugongs and hyraxes possess two incisors that structurally resemble elephant tusks. Elephants have the ability to go long periods without water and can drink 45 gallons or more per day. They only digest about 40% of the food they eat; their dung contains undigested seeds and other plant material, which other animals eat. Elephants disrupt community life—occasionally leading to injury and death of people. The African bush elephant can run surprisingly fast for its weight and size! They have distinct seasonal feeding preferences to utilise food availability. Sometimes, they must travel long distances to reach a water source. These are consumed to supplement the salt in their diet. Due to their large food requirements and their ability to remove whole trees from the ground the African savanna elephant can cause dramatic changes to their environment. What Makes the Desert a Prime Location for the Great Horned Owl? This region is arid and receives approximately 50-150mm of rain annually. Deserts are regions in which very little rain falls. What WWF Is Doing. However, baby elephants can be attacked and killed by animals such as lions, tigers and hyenas. 19. Because elephants eat so much, they’re … The order included the extinct wooly mammoth and American mastodon. Due to the extreme weather conditions, Namibia’s desert elephants roam mostly at night and have adapted their drinking and feeding habits to the available resources. Elephants are wounded, sometimes fatally, by snares set for antelopes and other animals for food. Elephants will dig holes in the ground to find water. Other species rely on the keystone species for survival. Elephants communicate with each other using scent, touch, and a variety of sounds, including low frequency rumbles and infrasound (which at <40Hz is below the level of human hearing) that can travel 5-10km or more. Females usually produce their first offspring around 10-12 years of age, after a 22-month gestation period. They go in search of, 2019 DEC Annual Research Report compressed, Ramey et al. African forest elephants live in the forest with lots of dense trees. The distinctive characteristics and unique social structure of desert-dwelling elephants are simply adaptations to the extreme temperatures and the rocky plains of Namibia's north-west Kunene region. Wide Turns: Best turning occurs with Quick Turn skill. Family groups of desert-dwelling elephants are smaller than those found in the savannah. Adults drink 170 to 230 litres of water at a time. 9. 2013 Desert-dwelling African elephants dig wells to purify drinking water, Leggett, Brown, & Ramey 2011 desert-dwelling elephants. The desert elephants can appear leaner and taller due to their diet and have bigger feet than other African elephants. Family groups are generally all related females (grandmothers, mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts) and their juvenile offspring. Females are usually a little more than half that weight. Moreover, African elephants are native to 37 African countries, mainly in the south of the Sahara Desert. Asian elephants live in a variety of grassland and forest habitats. As a result of their visibility within the open areas where they live, Savanna elephants are well studied and populations are easily estimated. In the late 1990s an intrepid elephant bull named Voortrekker, meaning 'first walker', ventured south, from the northern part of Namibia, where most elephants had then settled. They have longer legs and leaner bodies than ‘regular’ lions and are built for endurance. Image Credit: Russ MacLaughlin. At one time, the Elephantidae family comprised of six genera and 26 species. For elephants living in the desert, this is a vital adaptation to their survival. A full-grown male (bull) elephant can weigh up to 6 tons (~6000 kg) and be 4m high at the shoulder. These are the same three subpopulations studied by P.J. Adult bulls can consume 250kg daily, although females eat less than that. Being the oldest, the matriarch has the longest memory and knowledge of water sources, seasonal foods, and migration routes to help her family survive. From that point on, other elephant herds have followed, and there are now a total of five resident matriarchal herds in the Ugab and Huab River regions. Elephants are herbivores. Desert elephants can drink up to 160 liters of water per day and will travel far in their quest for water. There are approximately 150 desert elephants remaining. They are born for the wild and there is much to learn about them. African elephants live on the majority of the African continent, south of the Sahara desert. Adult bulls can consume 250kg daily, although females eat less than that. They are not a unique species or subspecies of elephant but an "ecotype": a population unique in that it has adapted to this extreme environment through learned behaviors, rather than genetic adaptions. Males undergo periods of heightened sexual condition called musth, when they become restless and more aggressive in their pursuit of estrous females. Unfortunately, a large part of this elephant population perished in the latter half of the 19th century. Elephants are known for their large size, trunks (an extension of the nose and upper lip) and tusks (modified teeth). We would like to send you updates about our work, the latest news, events and details of how you can help support us. Elephants are known to live 60+ years in captivity, but most probably have shorter lives in the wild. Humans are the only predator that can threaten them. These elephants have made their home in the Namib desert in Namibia, Africa, and subsequently, these elephants exhibit small adaptations to the extreme temperatures and terrain. 2. Their Scientific (Latin) Name is “Loxodonta Africana” The African bush elephant is part of the … Although they're technically prey animals, rather than predatory ones, adults are so large that they're invulnerable to attacks from wild animals. These elephants feed on shoots, leaves, flowers, barks, tubers, bulbs, roots, etc. During the wet season they prefer green grasses, shoots and buds, but in the dry season desert elephants have to rely on woody vegetation, primarily camelthorn (Acacia erioloba), mopane (Colophospermum mopane), and Ana trees and seedpods (Faidherbia albida). In the wild, elephants move constantly, migrating as much as 30 miles per day, and are active for 18 hours a day. However there have been incidents of poaching and in the early 1980's the number of desert elephants and rhinos declined to alarmingly low levels. Elephant Species in Africa. Compared to the Asian elephant, the African elephant is taller, has larger ears and is more difficult to domesticate. Thus they frighten easily and extreme patience and silence are required if you do not wish to disturb them. African elephant Habitat Facts African elephants live in sub-Saharan Africa, the rain forests of Central and West Africa and the Sahel desert in Mali. You can help The Sanctuary feed an elephant for a day with a donation of $50. The African forest elephant has, like the asian elephant, four nails on the hindfeet and five nails on the frontfeet (which is more nails than than the african bush elephant which has four front nails and three nails on the hind feet).. African Forest Elephant Diet. Calves depend on their mother’s milk until the age of two, but most will suckle until the birth of the next calf, usually at 3-4 years. Desert-adapted Elephants. Depending on the season, other herds and individual bulls from the north-east visit the area. Family groups are usually related, and include the matriarch, her sisters, daughters, and their young. World Elephant Day is celebrated annually on 12 August. A to Z list of animals that live in the desert. It wasn't until 1937 that this species was confirmed growing in the Anza-Borrego Desert Park region. There are three distinct species of elephant left in the world: The Asian elephant and, in Africa, the forest and savannah elephant species. Desert-adapted Elephants. Desert Iguana. ELEPHANT FACTS AND FIGURES. Before leaving the waterhole they’ll cover themselves with dust in order to protect their skin from insects and the sun. The desert elephants can appear leaner and taller due to their diet and have bigger feet than other African elephants. … An older female (cow) leads the family and is called the matriarch. We subsequently expanded the study area, as well as conservancy and IRDNC involvement in the project (via our Namibian collaborators, R. and T. Vinjevold), which has proven to be mutually beneficial to our research, local communities, and desert elephant conservation in general. The Elephant Tree, also called Bursera Microphylla, is from the Bursera species of flowering trees and shrubs. The Desert Elephant, which belong to the savanna elephant subspecies (Loxodonta africana cyclotis), are a protected species. Additionally, the country has a density of 1.28 elephants per square km, which is the highest elephant concentration in Africa. Elephants eat almost any vegetation, including grasses, herbs, shrubs, leaves, bark, seeds, and fruit. We share the results of our scientific research and report on current desert elephant status to collaborators, stakeholders and decision-makers. The Elephant Tree is one of the many trees that are found in the Sonoran Desert. In addition to their enormous size, later proboscideans are distinguished by tusks and long, muscular trunks; these features were less developed or absent in the smaller early proboscideans. Speaking of desert-adapted lions. Namibia's desert elephants or desert-dwelling elephants thrive in a unique environment, and although their behaviour suggests that they are a distinct species of elephant, they are African bush elephants (Loxodonta Africana). They are also one of the largest animals in the world, so… EHRA monitor the elephants that live in the Huab and Ugab Rivers. Some have been spotted on beaches. There’s an easy way to tell the African elephants apart from their Asian cousins – their ears! The group, Elephant-Human Relations Aid (EHRA) monitor the Huab and Ugab subpopulations. We have discovered that elephants dig wells in sandy river beds to purify their drinking water. A low calving rate was recorded for all groups, which was attributed to poaching and human disturbance (Pinnock, Bell and William, 2019). Related family groups are called “bond groups” or “kin groups,” and groups that share the same seasonal habitat are known as clans. (There is a sustainable development project in Orupembe, organized by IRDNC, where Commiphora resin is harvested for sale to perfume companies. The elephant’s gestation period is 22 months – longer than any other land animal in the world. We (Dr. R. Ramey and Dr. L. Brown) began our long-term research program in 2006, focusing on questions regarding elephant social organization and genetics in the Hoarusib and Hoanib Rivers. In the desert population we have seen calves as old as six, still suckling. They grow to between 8.2 and 13 feet (2.5 and 4 meters) tall at the shoulder and weigh 5,000 to 14,000 lbs. They consume about 4-6% of body weight daily, i.e., a 5,000 kg bull eats 200-300 kg of fresh plant material a day; a 2,800kg cow needs from 112-170 kg. 2. WHO AM I? Elephants are herbivores, which means they only eat plants. Family: Elephantidae (modern elephants) Genus and species: Loxodonta africana (African elephant), Elephas maximus (Asian elephant) Geographical location: African elephants are abundant south of the Sahara desert; Asian elephants occur in India, Sri Lanka, and south and east to Sumatra