Where elephants live and what they eat

African savanna elephant habitat

The savanna elephant is the most adaptable of the three. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance lists lowland and montane forests, flood plains and all types of woodland and savanna across eastern, central and southern Africa, and the IUCN adds grasslands and deserts. Savanna elephants prefer open country and rarely overlap with forest elephants. Southern Africa holds the largest numbers: the IUCN identifies the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area, spanning parts of Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe, as home to the species' largest subpopulation. Many populations move seasonally between wet season feeding areas and dry season refuges near permanent water. More on the savanna elephant page.

African forest elephant habitat

Forest elephants live in the moist and semi deciduous rainforests of the Congo Basin and in a range of habitats in West Africa. The IUCN reports that Central Africa holds just under 95% of the species, with Gabon alone holding about 66%. They follow fruiting trees through the forest and gather at forest clearings and mineral licks, called bais, to drink and take in minerals. See the forest elephant page.

Asian elephant habitat

Asian elephants survive in isolated populations in 13 countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Viet Nam. The IUCN's 2020 assessment cites a very approximate total range of about 486,800 square kilometers. The Smithsonian describes them as forest animals that prefer zones where forest is broken by open grassy glades, which offer more plant variety and quick shade, and notes that they often stay near rivers in the dry season. Home range sizes vary enormously, from about 15 to 50 square kilometers to several hundred, depending on food and water. See the Asian elephant page.

What elephants eat

All elephants are herbivores. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance gives a daily intake of roughly 75 to 150 kg of vegetation, about 4 to 6% of body weight, and says elephants spend an average of 16 hours a day eating. They need so much partly because they digest only about 44% of what they eat, according to the Smithsonian.

Elephants also seek out minerals: they dig at salty soils and visit mineral licks. Crops such as bananas and sugar cane are a favorite in Asia, and maize and other crops in Africa, which puts elephants in conflict with farmers. Read about human elephant conflict.

Water

Elephants drink large amounts when water is available: the Smithsonian gives about 189 liters a day for wild Asian elephants, and San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance says its elephants drink about 75 to 190 liters a day. They also use water and mud to cool and protect their skin. In dry seasons they dig into sandy riverbeds with feet, trunk and tusks to reach water below the surface, creating drinking holes that other animals use too.

A shrinking range

Elephants need a lot of space, so habitat loss hits them early. WWF reports that the range of African elephants shrank from about 3 million square miles in 1979 to just over 1 million square miles in 2007, and the IUCN notes that the forest elephant now occupies only about a quarter of its historic range. Asian elephants once ranged from western Asia to China's Yangtze River; today they survive in fragments. The IUCN's Asian Elephant Specialist Group has highlighted a study suggesting that almost 42% of the Asian elephant's currently available habitat could be lost through the combined effects of human pressure and climate change, which is why corridors linking fragments are a conservation priority. See elephant conservation.