Elephant
Is the only species of the order Proboscidea in South Africa.
| Common name | Scientific name | Average weight of adult male | Average length or shoulder height | Diet | How do they live | Feeding time | Gestation period | Number of young at birth |
| Elephant, African | Loxodonta africana | 5500-6000 kg | 3,2 - 4m | herbivorous | herds | day/night | 22 months | single calf |
The largest land animal on earth. Bulls can weigh more than 6000kg, cows are somewhat smaller and can weigh up to 3500kg.
Herds are lead by a matriarch and herds normally consists of the matriarch and a few other females. Female calves normally stay with the herd but young bulls normally leave the herd when they reach puberty at about 10 to 12 years. Bulls normally join the herd when the cows are in season. Normally the bulls go into "musth" and this condition is indicated by the excretion of liquid from a gland between the eye and the ear. During this period the bulls can be more aggressive. Bulls form smaller bachelor herds or can be loaners.
The mammary glands of a cow are situated between her front legs. Calves use their mouths to suckle and their trunks to drink water. The trunk of an elephant is a very delicate piece of equipment and they use it to perform very delicate tasks like picking a single leaf with the tip, or breaking off a branch from a tree.
Elephants are very protective of their young and form nurseries where a few aunts and cousins will look after the young. They all enjoy a mud bath and are excellent swimmers. When they visit a water hole for a swim or a mud bath, they normally chase away all the other animals.
They require vast amounts of food everyday and are constantly moving around in search of food. An elephant start off with six molar tooth, both sides, top and lower jaw. They however only use two at a time and these are replaced from the rear as they are worn away. When they reach the age of about sixty, they normally have only the last pair in place and when these are worn away the animal would literally starve to death.