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The African Elephant

**__The African Elephant__ Scientific Name**: Loxodonta africana spp
 * Habitat:** Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests, Flooded Grasslands and Savannas, Miombo woodlands, Acacia savannas
 * Location:** Africa

The  African elephant, the world's largest terrestrial mammal, is an herbivore that enjoys to feast on grass, foliage, fruit, branches, and twigs. Elephants can eat up to 500 pounds of vegetation in a single day and drink as much as 40 gallons of water at one time.

African elephants are most easily identified by their large ears. Their ears radiate heat to help them stay warm. An elephant's trunk is actually a long nose used for smelling, breathing, trumpeting, drinking, and also for grabbing things, such as a meal. An African Elephant's trunk contains about 100,000 different muscles. They also have two fingerlike features on the end of their trunk that they can use to grab small items.

 The African elephant is critically endangered as a result of poaching and habitat loss. Poachers kill African elephants for the ivory in their tusks. Large quantities of African ivory are still found in illegal markets in Africa and beyond in places such as Asia even since the ivory ban in 1989. A more long-term threat to the species, however, is the reduction of habitat available to elephants in the face of expanding human populations. In the African country of Kenya, in the last ten years or so, the elephant population has dropped by 80 percent, from 150,000 down to 30,000.

Through its African Elephant Program, WWF, has identified five issues that need to be addressed in order to conserve African elephants and diminish the factors that threaten them. They are: slowing the loss of natural habitat; strengthening activities against poachers and the illegal ivory trade; reducing conflict between human and elephant populations; Determining the status of elephant populations through improved surveys; and enhancing the capacity of local wildlife authorities to conserve and manage elephants.

DID YOU KNOW?  That African Elephants continue to grow throughout their 70 years and can reach 7 1/2 tons? That is comparable to two Hummers! Even though they are so massive, they possess various remarkable abilities such as trunk touch and subsonic calls.

Did you know, that the African Elephant's head is so large, weighing HUNDREDS of pounds? WOW!

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