There are two species of African elephants: African bush elephant and African forest elephant. The African bush elephant is the world’s largest elephant.
African Elephant 🐘Facts for Kids
Unlike Asian elephant the African elephant has unusually large ears which are good for the heat loss since African elephants live in warm environments.
Adult males weigh 10,360–13,330 pounds while females average 4,762–7,125 pounds. The shoulder height is 10 – 13 feet in males.
The African elephant makes habitat in thick forests, Sahelian scrub, deserts, miombo woodlands, and mopane. They live in sub-Saharan Africa.
They 
will consume as much as 992 pounds of vegetation a day. But the digestive system of African elephants is not that good. They have to walk to digest meal.
African elephants are intelligent animals. They learn to use tools, language, mimicry, and play (in captivity) just like the humans do.
African elephants have 24 teeth in total. They lose their teeth 4 – 6 times during their entire lifespans.
They live in families. The adult female leads the family and it is called ‘matriarch’. Each family may consist of calves and more than one female.
Adult males become highly aggressive during the breeding for they must fight each other over the female.
African elephants have a lifespan of about 60 years in the wild. During the lifespan of 50 years a female can produce 6 – 7 calves.
African elephants have a long gestation (development) period of 2 years. The female produces its first calf at 10 – 12 years age.
They have powerful tusks which serves numerous purposes. Either they have to dig for roots or eat bark from trees African elephants must use tusks.
