Forest Elephant

Facts about Forest elephants

Forest elephants are primarily threatened by poaching for bushmeat and ivory. We can help them by prevent illegal killing and protect elephant habitat. Their numbers have fallen by more than 86% over a period of 31 years. Forest elephants are the smaller of the two African elephant species. They also have straighter, thinner tusks, more rounded ears and differently shaped skulls. Both elephant species exhibit sexual dimorphism, where males are larger than females, with wider-set tusks, more rounded foreheads and less curvature in their spines. 

  Forest Elephant habitat 

African forest elephants inhabit the dense rainforests of West and Central Africa. Their tendency to dwell in dense forest habitats prohibits traditional counting methods such as visual identification. 

They are found most often in savannas, grasslands, and forests, but they occupy a wide range of habitats, including deserts, swamps, and highlands in tropical and subtropical regions of Africa and Asia. 

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• African forest elephant numbers have fallen by more than 86% over a period of 31 years.

• African forest elephants have a considerably slower reproductive rate than savanna elephants, meaning they cannot bounce back from population declines as quickly at the same rate.

• African forest elephants typically live between 50 and 60 years.

• Typically, they weigh between 3 and 6.6 tons.