Elephants are the largest land animals. They have large ears, four molars the size of bricks, and a trunk used for many functions. Elephants live in family groups led by matriarchs and bull groups of males. They communicate using infrasound and show signs of grief. Elephants face threats of poaching and habitat loss. They are considered keystone species due to seed dispersal and maintaining habitats.

1. SEKEY WONDER

2. ELEPHANT
Scientific classification
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3. ELEPHANT
Physical characteristics
They are the largest land mammal.
They have the largest brain compared to any other land mammal is
about four times the size of the human brain.
Elephants have large thin ears that contains a complex network of
blood vessels that helps to regulate body temperature.
Elephants have four molars – two on top and two on the bottom,
located on the side if their mouth. Each molar weighs around five
pounds and is the size of a brick.
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4. ELEPHANT
Physical characteristics
The elephant's trunk is an extension of the upper lip and nose. It functions for
grasping, breathing, feeding, dusting, smelling, drinking, lifting, sound
production/communication, defense/protection, and sensing.
They have small eyes and poor vision. There are long eyelashes that prevents their
eyes from dusk and also helps to prevent the eyes from drying out.. Elephants have
terrible eyesight, but a very keen sense of smell.
Upper incisors modified into large tusks which grow continuously.
The skin of an elephant may look more wrinkled which helps to keep their skin
healthy by holding in moisture. After they take a mud bath, the moisture of the mud
remains in the wrinkles to continue softening the elephant’s skin.
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5. ELEPHANT
African & the Asiatic elephant
• African and Asian elephants are the only surviving members of the Order Proboscidea.
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6. ELEPHANT
African & the Asiatic elephant
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7. ELEPHANT
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African & the Asiatic elephant

8. ELEPHANT
The African elephants
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9. ELEPHANT
The Africa elephants
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10. ELEPHANT
Distribution
African elephants have a sub—Saharan distribution, with forest
elephants primarily inhabiting western and central regions of Africa and
savanna elephants inhabiting the eastern and southern regions.
Forest Elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis)
Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Democratic
Republic of Congo, Cόte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana,
Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Niger, Senegal, Sierra
Leone, Togo, and Uganda.
Savanna Elephant (Loxodonta africana)
Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique,
Namibia, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and
Zimbabwe.
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11. ELEPHANT
Distribution
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12. ELEPHANT
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13. ELEPHANT
Social organization
Elephants are very social and group members have very strong
relationship with each other.
They even show signs of grief when a member of their family (or
another elephant) dies. When they see a dead elephant, they may
vocalize, use their trunks to "hug" the dead animal, or stay with the
carcass for hours.
Some elephants have also
tried to bury the dead body
by covering it in leaves and soil.
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14. ELEPHANT
They are two types of social elephant group.
Bull group made up of males.
The family group made of the females and their juveniles.
 The social structure of elephants is complex, varying by gender, and
population dynamics. Adult elephants form matriarchal (female-led)
societies. Adult males are usually solitary.
Although the adult males are primarily solitary in nature, bulls will
associate with non-natal family units (family units to which they are not
related).
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15. ELEPHANT
The bull group
Males will leave the family unit (natal unit) between 10 and 19 years of age as a result
of they being expelled from the group.
Reasons for expulsion are that males grow faster than females hence become more
independent, more boisterous and destructive.
The young males leave the group alone or with others and wander around in small Bull
groups.
Bull groups are bachelor males with weak social bonds.
They are usually fluid and temporary, number and composition of bulls change
continuously.
Average size of groups is 1 or 5 adult males.
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16. ELEPHANT
The bull group
Bulls that associate in small groupings have a hierarchal-ranking social
structure.
Leadership is determined by age and strength.
They protect the front and rear of the herd.
More docile (quiet-natured) bulls do not seek leadership roles, but serve
as stabilizing members within the group.
Hierarchical roles are re-established and re-adjusted whenever a male
leaves or enters the group.
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17. ELEPHANT
Female social structure is similar to concentric rings, with the innermost circle
comprising a Mother Infant Unit(M-I-U) which is the
Several of these units come together and unite to form a Family Unit (F-U).
The family unit is led by the eldest, most dominant female called the Matriarch.
From this stable core, the groupings widen to include less familiar individuals to form
Bond Groups(B-G) which consist of several Family Units.
Different Bond Groups using the same area may be called a Clan.
Several Clans in a forest form a Population. 17

18. ELEPHANT
Family Group
In savannah elephants, the family group size may range from 6 –14 animals.
Large congregations of elephants occur more frequently with African elephants than
Asian. In regions with less food, smaller elephant family units are found. In regions with
abundant food, larger social groups are formed.
The matriarch is the backbone of the elephant family unit because she provides stability
and determines ranging patterns for the rest of the family. The other females
comprising the family unit are usually the matriarch's daughters and their offspring.
After a grand mother dies, immature females who have reached maturity start
reproducing to increase the size of the group.
Each new grandmother becomes a matriarch and form a family unit with daughters and
granddaughters
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19. ELEPHANT
Family Group
The hierarchal ranking for these females is based on leadership,
experience, and age. Generally, the older the female, the higher her
ranking.
The primary function of elephant family units is the protection and
rearing of calves. Adult females cooperate in the assistance of calf
movements, foraging, protection, and social experiences.
Calf survivability greatly increases with an increased number of
females taking care of them.
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20. ELEPHANT
Home range & Activity
Elephants are not territorial. The home range is between 10 and 70
km2 (four to 27 mi.2) and possibly larger, depending on herd size and
seasonality.
On average, elephants spend about 16 hours of each day eating
everything from grasses, small plants, and bushes to fruit, twigs, tree
bark, and roots.
Part of the reason they eat so much for so long is because they
ultimately digest very little of the food they eat. So they need to
consume more food in order to ensure they are properly nourished.
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21. ELEPHANT
Home range & Activity
They sleep 4-5 hours in 24, sometimes lying down and snoring
heavily.
Elephants must migrate seasonally in order to find food, relying on
their memories of previous food and water supplies (hence the old
saying, “an elephant never forgets”).
They will also migrate to avoid poachers and other threats, even
moving during the night to avoid traveling during the daytime, when
poachers are most active.
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22. ELEPHANT
Reproduction
Females reach sexual maturity at around 9-12 years of age and become pregnant
for the first time, on average, around age 13.
Cows can reproduce until ages 55-60.
Females give birth at about 5-year intervals.
Males (bulls) reach sexual maturity around age 10, but often do not breed until
about 30 when they become large and strong enough to compete successfully
with other large bulls for the attention of females.
Competition for potential mates is settled by bulls through a trial of strength,
usually pushing, tusking, wrestling, and ramming. The weaker of the two bulls is
forced to retreat and gives up mating rights to the female.
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23. ELEPHANT
Reproduction
• Males assess a female's reproductive status by testing her urine for
hormones. Chemical information is picked up through the trunk, blown
into the roof of the mouth, and then detected by the Jacobson's organ in
the upper palate of the mouth.
• Successive mating occurs briefly from a few hours to four days. Males
usually stay with the female after mating to prevent her from mating with
other males.
• Both African and Asian elephants have a gestation period of almost two
years (20-22 months).
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24. Reproduction
 As the time for giving birth approaches,
the female will seek close contact with
another female in her family unit for
protection during labor.
 Sometimes the entire family unit circles
around a female giving birth, protecting
her from all sides.
 Females give birth while standing. The
birth itself lasts only a few minutes.
 A single calf is usually born
 which weighs 110 kg. Twins have been
documented, but are extremely rare.
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25. ELEPHANT
Reproduction
Adult males exhibit a period of heightened sexual and aggressive activity known
as musth.
Elephants have a musth gland located just beneath the skin's surface, halfway
between the eye and ear, on each side of their head.
Annually, musth glands secrete a dark, oily, musky substance and become
inflamed. This physiological change is associated with a behavior observed in male
elephants called musth, and is characterized by unpredictable, dominant, and
excitable behavior.
The musth period lasts between several days to several months. There is no
seasonal pattern with musth. Bulls come into it a different time.
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26. ELEPHANT
Reproduction
Male elephants first experience musth about three years after sexual
maturity (between eight and 15 years of age) is reached. The musth
secretion increases gradually until the bulls reach their 40's, after which, it
declines in strength and intensity.
During musth, males leave bull areas in search of oestrous females.
Among non-musthmales, dominance is determined by age and body size.
Once in the aggressive state of musth, a male ranks above all non-
musthmales.
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27. ELEPHANT
Reproduction
Among musthmales, dominance is achieved by a
combination of body size and condition.
Two closely matched males often fight, sometimes to
the death of one of them.
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28. ELEPHANT
Parent/Offspring Behaviour
Bond between mother and offspring can endure for 50 years.
Small calves remain in almost constant contact within 15 meters
from mother.
Mother pushes calve under her to protect it from danger and the hot
sun.
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29. ELEPHANT
Anti-predatory Behaviour
Group defence, threat displays, demonstration and real charges.
They communicate with infrasound. These low-frequency sounds,
can travel several kilometres, and provide elephants with a "private"
communication channel that plays an important role in elephants'
complex social life.
Sounds are generally considered to be infrasonic if their frequency is
less than 20 Hz(the lower limit of human hearing)
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30. ELEPHANT
Causes of Extinction
Predator - Carnivores (meat eaters) such as lions, hyenas, and crocodiles
may prey upon young, sick, orphaned, or injured elephants. Humans are
the greatest threat to all elephant populations.
Diseases - Anthrax is one of the most fatal diseases impacting elephants.
Other diseases that affects elephants are trunk paralysis and elephant pox.
Elephants are susceptible to some diseases spread by mosquitoes and to
some inflictions that affect humans,
such as intestinal colic, nettle rash, pneumonia, constipation, and even the
common cold.
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31. ELEPHANT
Causes of Extinction
Human Impact
oThe main threats to elephant populations today are habitat loss/
fragmentation and poaching.
o Elephants may require a few hundred to a few thousand square kilometers
of habitat as a home range. With increased human settlement, elephant
migration routes have been greatly obstructed.
Habitat Loss
Rapid human population growth and development has fragmented many
elephant habitats; thereby compressing populations into a smaller areas.
Due to the large dietary requirements of elephants, the fragmented habitats
may become over-exploited and damaged.
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32. ELEPHANT
Usefulness to the environment
Flagship and keystone species - Elephants have incredibly poor
digestion, with only 50% efficiency. As a result, they release an
incredible amount of gas (methane) and produce around 250 pounds
of manure a day!
Elephants' foraging activities maintains feeding grounds, clearings for
other herbivores.
Elephants pathways are used by other animals to access other areas
normally out of reach.
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33. ELEPHANT
Usefulness to the environment
In the dry season, elephants use their tusks to dig water holes in dry
river beds which provide water for other animals.
Seeds of certain plants (Tieghemellahecklii) are known to germinate
only after passing through the gut of elephants.
Elephant faeces is a source of nutrition for a variety of organisms
including rodents, beetles, termites etc.
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34. IUCN Red List has classified all Asian elephant subspecies as
endangered in all parts of their range and African elephants as
threatened.
It is vulnerable in Ghana.
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35. https://seaworld.org/animal-info/animal-
infobooks/elephants/behavior, www.elephanttrust.net/life.html -
12/10/2018 (9:21PM)
African Forest Elephant. 2008. <URL:a-z-
animals.com/animals/african-elephant/ Accessed 5 December 2013.
Beaune, D., B. Fruth, L. Bollache, G. Hohmann, and F. Bretagnolle.
2013. Doom of the elephant-dependent trees in a Congo tropical
forest. .
Elephantidae. 2013. <URL: http://animaldiversity.org. Accessed 9
December 2013
Wildlife division -Forestry commission- P.O.BOX M239 -
Africanelephant.com- 12/10/2018 - 10:155AM
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