African Elephants

Elephants, the biggest of all land animals, are among the most recognizable and beloved creatures on Earth. They are slightly larger than the Asian elephant and can be identified by their larger ears that look somewhat like the continent of Africa.  Female elephants live in family herds with their young, but adult males tend to roam on their own. Elephants have a longer pregnancy than any other mammal—almost 22 months. They usually give birth to one calf every two to four years. At birth, elephants already weigh 200 pounds!!

Both male and female African elephants have tusks they use to dig for food and water and to strip bark from trees. Males use the tusks to battle one another, but the ivory has also attracted violence of a far more dangerous sort. They are hunted cruelly for these ivory tusks that are then traded on the black market Elephants are currently listed as endangered on the IUCN red list of threatened species.