What Do Elephants Eat?

African Bush Elephants are both browsers and grazers. Their diet comprises grass, tree foliage, roots, twigs, bark, leaves, herbs, and fruits.

• The African bush elephant is famed for being the largest mammal on land.
• This animal can grow to lengths of 24 ft and a height of 13 ft.
• Their weights can go up to 6.1 tons. African bush elephants are found in wide distribution in almost all African countries.
• The African bush elephant commonly inhabits open savannah, desert areas, and high rain forests.

African Forest Elephants are herbivorous, consuming a diet that constitutes of fruits, tree bark, and leaves. These elephants also crave salt and will thus be found licking soil to provide them with the necessary minerals which may be absent from their diets.

• This species was previously considered a subspecies of the African bush elephant.
• Its scientific name was thus written as Loxodonta africana cyclotis.
• It was until recently when DNA results revealed that the two species diverged from one ancestor, millions of years ago.
• The African forest elephant became the newest elephant species.
• The African forest elephants are smaller compared to the African savannah elephants.
• Another difference between the 2 species is the fact that the tusks of the African forest elephants are straight, and they tend to point downwards when compared to the curved tusks of their savannah counterparts.
• African forest elephants mostly inhabit tropical forests.

Asian elephants are also herbivores. They mostly feed on grass and various plant species including palms and legumes.

• The Asian elephant is endemic to Asia, particularly in Laos, Myanmar, Pakistan, Cambodia, and Thailand.
• This species is slightly smaller compared to its African relatives, and they also have short, rounded ears.
• The Asiatic elephant is considered endangered since its population has reduced by half over the last 75 years.
• The members of this species are found in wide distribution in rainforests, terrestrial lands, grassland, and shrubland.

Elephants are herbivores, meaning they obtain all their nutrients from feeding on vegetation. As such, they do not hunt.

Elephants are both diurnal and nocturnal land mammals.

• Those living next to human settlements tend to be nocturnal because this is when human activity is reduced.
• These organisms also have long eating hours, and this explains their diurnal and nocturnal activity.
• As such, elephants will be found foraging for food during daylight hours or nightfall.

Given their enormous size, elephants consume between 200 and 600 pounds of food a day, and they spend anything between 12 and 18 hours out of 24 hours, feeding. This implies that these large mammals will tend to feed as often as they can to realize their daily threshold.

Because of their large size, adult elephants have almost nil predators.

• Humans are the biggest threats to elephants.
• They hunt them for the illegal trade of ivory.
• Elephant calves that stray from the herd, especially at night, may fall prey (though not easily) to organisms like hyenas, lions, wild dogs, and the Nile crocodiles.

Elephants play an instrumental role in the animal food chain.

• Elephant calves, the sick and old members are potential prey to large predators like lions.
• In this role, elephants provide a perfect source of nutrition.
• Elephants support the thriving of birdlife by engaging in a symbiotic relationship with some bird species such as drongos and oxpeckers.