The African elephant (Loxodonta africana) is the largest land mammal in the world and one of nature’s great ecosystem engineers, being a major contributor to maintaining the balance between wooded and grass ecosystems.

African Elephant Facts in a nutshell

African Elephants are the largest land animals on earth. Slightly larger than their Asian family member their most obvious identification difference is their larger ears that look somewhat like the continent of Africa. Asian elephants have smaller, rounded ears.

Credit: Eric Isselee / Shutterstock.com

If you think there's no way a huge elephant could fear a mouse, you'd be correct... sort of.

From the movie "Dumbo" to Saturday morning cartoons, the image of an elephant cowering from a minuscule mouse is pretty well established. But the elephant's fear has more to do with the element of surprise than the mouse itself.
Theories abound that elephants are afraid of mice because the tiny creatures nibble on their feet or can climb up into their trunks. However, there's no evidence to back up either of those claims.

 An elephant, being so enormous and with so much bare skin exposed to the sun, it is very difficult to hide under trees. Fortunately, evolution has played its part over the years by making their ears larger. Elephants do have great hearing, though this is not the sole purpose of the ears. As the elephant grows, the size of the ears increases and so does the surface area.

Elephants are huge and therefore they have to eat a lot every day. Adults consume an average of 200 kilograms of food each day—most of it vegetation. Because of their enormous appetite, elephants must be able to eat a wide variety of food, whether small or large.

However, even though they look clumsy, elephants can quickly and easily grab and very quickly eat small objects. But how do they pick up and eat things like grain or even flour with only a trunk as cutlery?

There are dire consequences to leaving elephant populations unprotected.

As megaherbivores, forest elephants have a significant effect on the environment around them. According to new research, their impact also extends to tree populations and carbon levels in the forest.

Up to now the significance of these ecosystem engineers’ dining habits on the carbon stocks in Africa’s rainforests remained largely unknown.

A new study found that in a less dense forest due to the presence of elephants will lead to changes in the competition for light, water and space among trees thereby affecting carbon levels which will have significant implications for climate and conservation policies.

The animal’s crevice-filled skin helps keep it cool

The intricate network of crevices seen on the African elephant's skin helps it retain moisture and stay cool

Female elephants thwart a male attempting to mate with a small female. Photo: Michael Nichols, Nat Geo Image Collection

Males of many species slow down in their pursuit of females as they age. Not so with elephants. Studies reveal that bull elephants increase the energy they put into reproduction as they get older.

In fact, elderly males invest much more effort in tracking down and mating with females than do younger male elephants, according to a new study.

Baobab and Elephant 

Both are icons of Africa, easily identifiable from a distance by their distinctive shape. Both can reach considerable sizes and ideally reach very old age. They even share a similar color spectrum. It is therefore not surprising that Baobabs are sometimes referred to as “elephants” in the kingdom of plants.

The size of the baobab tree can vary, it can shrink and expand depending on its needs. In the dry season the trunk shrinks and when water is abundant, the trunk expands to support more water storage. But even though they only need a minimal amount of water they need some water – and if they do not get it over long periods they dry out and die.