African elephants are the largest of all land animals. Males stand an average of 10 feet tall at the shoulder and weigh as much as 12,000 pounds (6 tons). Females are a little shorter and weigh about 8,000 pounds (4 tons).

The African elephant has large, floppy ears that cover its shoulders and a small, smooth forehead. Both males and females have large tusks. It also has a dip in its back.

Found throughout much of Africa, those living in bush habitat are found south of the Sahara, while those inhabiting forest areas live in Cameroon, Congo, Ivory Coast, and other central and western African nations. Although African elephants numbered approximately 1.5 million in 1978, today there are about 600,000 African elephants remaining in the wild.

While habitat destruction and fragmentation threaten the African elephant's future, the greatest immediate threat to their survival is poaching, or illegal killing, to supply the ivory market, an extremely lucrative trade. Many products are made from elephant ivory, from jewelry to piano keys.

Several African countries have implemented elephant conservation programs, many of which include setting aside preserve areas and hiring wildlife rangers to protect elephants from poachers. However, limited resources and the eminent danger of poaching operations, as well as the political instability of many African countries, makes it very challenging to implement effective, long-term elephant conservation programs in Africa.

Both African and Asian elephants are descended from a long line of giant animals that included the wooly mammoth and mastodon.

The word "elephant" comes from the Greek word elephas, meaning ivory, in reference to the animal's prominent tusks, which are actually elongated incisor teeth. Excepting tusks, elephants have only four molar teeth. These teeth are replaced as they are worn away, up to six times throughout an elephant's life.

The elephant's trunk is another unique and important feature. It is used not only for drinking and bathing but for smelling, breathing, feeling, and grasping food. At the end of the trunk is a sensitive "finger" for grasping things as small as a berry or as large as a branch. African elephants have two fingers while the Asian has only one. They also use their trunk as a snorkel when crossing deep rivers. Baby elephants are not born knowing how to use their trunk -- they must learn.

Elephants live in the hot climates of Africa and Asia. To help protect themselves from the heat, elephants have large ears, with prominent veins, that they can flap to cool their blood. They must stay near water, not only for drinking, but also for bathing and cooling. In addition to mud baths, elephants also take dust baths to try to keep cool and deter insect attacks.

Elephants are herbivores, or plant-eaters. They feed on grasses, fruits, leaves, branches, bark, and twigs. Because of their large size and because as much as 60 percent of what they eat passes through without being digested, elephants spend about 16 hours a day foraging for nearly 350 pounds of food. In addition, they drink about 18 gallons of water each day.

Elephants are very social animals. They live in small herds composed of a group of females, or cows, and their young (calves) which are led by an older, experienced cow called the matriach. The herd works together to take care of the calves and to signal the others of danger. When a member of the herd dies, the other elephants may cover it with twigs and leaves and mourn their loss by staying at the gravesite for hours. Some males, or bulls, form bachelor herds, joining the females only to mate, while other bulls are loners.

The elephant's lifespan is up to 60 years. Elephants do not mate until they are about 15 years old, and usually give birth every 4 years. After 22 months of pregnancy, a single calf is born weighing about 250 pounds and standing almost 3 feet tall. While the calf will begin eating vegetation within a few months, it continues to nurse on its mother's milk until it is at least 2 years old.