The most obvious difference between African and Asian elephants is the larger size of the African elephants and their larger ears. Also, African elephants have two lips on their trunk, both males and females have tusks, and they have a dip in their back.

Elephants are the largest living land animals, with males standing on average at 4 metres tall, weighing about 6,500 kgs with a body length of 25 feet.

Their trunk, or proboscis is a very sensitive organ used for smelling, handling food and objects, sucking up water and touching. Their food and water is picked, or sucked up using the trunk and then passed into their mouth. They also use their trunks to suck up water to squirt over their bodies to keep them cool. Their trunk is sensitive enough to pick up seeds and powerful enough to lift whole trees.

Their large ears act as a cooling system. The backs of the ears are covered by blood vessels and by flapping their ears elephants can keep their body temperature down.

Elephant’s tusks are large teeth growing from the upper jaw. They use their tusks for feeding such as digging up roots and lifting the bark from trees, as well as for display and as a weapon. Elephants are usually about 2 years of age when their tusks first begin to appear. It is because of their tusks that elephants have been so widely hunted.

Elephants eat grasses, leaves, shrubs and also tree bark, twigs and branches. Each day they will consume about 500 lb of vegetation and drink about 120 litres of water.

They are very sociable animals usually living in herds consisting of cows with their calves, led by the oldest female the matriarch. Some males are part of bachelor herds.

They communicate by sight, sound, smell and touch.