Elephant

An elephant is a large herbivorous mammal in family Elephantidae. It is not one species. Three living species remain: Elephas maximus (Asian), Loxodonta africana (African savanna) and Loxodonta cyclotis (African forest). They share trunks, tusks in some individuals, and the longest gestation of any land mammal.

A baby is a calf. A female is a cow. A male is a bull. A group is a herd. The trunk has tens of thousands of muscles and no bone.

This page is the family encyclopaedia. Borneo pygmy elephants: borneo pygmy elephant. Appeal: elephant appeal.

The related appeal explains potential support and the current funding status; this guide does not confirm a WARN grant. It does not run African parks.

Three living species, recognised as separate since African forest elephants were split from savanna elephants. Mammoths and mastodons are extinct relatives, not a fourth living species. Copying one species' tusks or IUCN badge onto "the elephant" is how worksheets go wrong.

Asian elephants have smaller rounded ears, an arched back and one finger-like projection at the trunk tip. African savanna elephants have large fan-shaped ears, a dipped back and two trunk-tip fingers. Forest elephants are smaller, with oval ears and straighter tusks.

Copying one species' tusks or IUCN badge onto "the elephant" is how worksheets go wrong.

See the comparison table on this page.

The IUCN estimates roughly 40,000–50,000 wild Asian elephants. African savanna elephants number on the order of 350,000 (Endangered). African forest elephants were revised toward about 135,000 in a DNA-based assessment and remain Critically Endangered. All three are in long-term decline.

These are estimates, not a named-elephant register.

WARN does not publish a weekly headcount. Indonesia and Malaysia hold a small share of Asian elephants — which is why each snared animal matters.

Do not add the three totals and call it one species.

They are different genera. Asian elephants are smaller, with smaller rounded ears, an arched back, one trunk-tip finger, and prominent tusks mainly in some males. African savanna elephants are larger, with fan-shaped ears, a saddle back, two trunk-tip fingers, and tusks usually in both sexes. Forest elephants are a third species of denser Central and West African rainforest.

IUCN: Asian Endangered; savanna Endangered; forest Critically Endangered.

WARN field work is Asian. African ivory history on this page is education.

Full table below. Bornean elephants are an Asian subspecies story at borneo pygmy elephant.

Wild elephants can live roughly 60–70 years. Some captive settings are shorter; published median figures for captive female Asian elephants are lower than the best wild lives. Orphans without a herd lose the teaching that keeps adults alive. Lifespan is why killing a matriarch damages more than one animal.

Lifespan is why killing a matriarch damages more than one animal. Herds remember water, routes and danger.

This is not an IUCN generation length to ignore. Twenty-two-month pregnancies cannot replace adults killed this season.

WARN does not run a UK elephant collection.

About 22 months — the longest gestation of any land mammal. Usually one calf, weaned around five years. That calendar is why "save the elephants" cannot be a one-off weekend. Twenty-two-month pregnancies cannot replace adults killed this season or this year.

If you searched because of a tourist camp pregnancy, that is a welfare and ethics question, not a wild recovery plan.

Speak to a veterinary specialist for captive animals. This guide does not replace clinical advice.

Programme: elephant appeal.

No. In African savanna elephants both sexes usually grow visible tusks. In Asian elephants, prominent tusks occur mainly in some males; many males are tuskless or carry short tushes, and many females show little tusk beyond the lip. Forest elephants typically have tusks in both sexes, often straighter.

Ivory poaching targets tusked animals and can shift the share of tuskless elephants over generations.

Tusks are teeth. They are not optional jewellery.

WARN does not sell ivory and does not fund a "tusk insurance" product.

Elephants eat huge amounts and walk far. When forest becomes farmland, they raid crops. A single night can destroy a smallholder's harvest. People respond with fire, fences, poison or guns. In Sri Lanka and parts of India, human-caused deaths dominate recorded elephant mortality — education on this page, not a WARN grant geography.

Effective mitigation is early warning, deterrents, land-use corridors and making non-lethal tolerance possible for farming households.

The related appeal explains potential support and the current funding status; this guide does not confirm a WARN grant. It does not claim a Sri Lanka field team.

Read donate elephant rescue abroad for the donor fork.

Ivory is dentine from tusks. CITES listed African elephants on Appendix I in 1989; Asian elephants were already Appendix I. Poaching fell, then surged again in the 2000s, especially hitting forest elephants. China's 2017 domestic ivory-market closure correlated with falling demand; illegal sales shifted online.

Southeast Asian elephants are also killed and maimed by snares set for other animals, not only by ivory gangs.

WARN does not run African ivory patrols. This hub cites the trade so the query gets a sourced answer.

Do not buy ivory. Do not donate expecting a named tusker.

Asian and African savanna elephants are Endangered. African forest elephants are Critically Endangered. There is no single honest badge for "the elephant". Vulnerable would understate forest elephants; using only Critically Endangered would overstate some savanna populations. Endangered is still a threatened category.

Endangered is a threatened category. It is not Extinct in the Wild.

CITES Appendix I covers international commercial ivory trade rules. Domestic markets and online sales are the leak.

This page will not rank charities. WARN's job in this query is Indonesia and Malaysia grants plus accurate species splits.

They use infrasonic rumbles below human hearing that travel kilometres through air and ground. They also use trunk touch, scent and higher calls. Matriarchs carry spatial memory of water and danger. Asian elephants are among the species that have passed a mirror self-recognition test.

Memory is why trauma — capture, cull of a family, translocation — lasts.

Communication is biology, not a sponsorship soundtrack.

WARN does not offer a named elephant with weekly "letters from the herd".

Fund partner-led veterinary response, snare-wound care and coexistence in Indonesia and Malaysia rather than posting fruit or paying for rides. Give at elephant appeal or donate elephant rescue abroad.

Do not claim a gift funds one invoiced ranger day or one named elephant. Some appeal tiers are illustrations only. Symbolic adoption: adopt an elephant.

US donors: WARN is not a 501(c)(3). African ivory patrols are not this appeal.

If you want a UK zoo visit, stop here. If you want field grants, use the appeal URLs.