All species
Elephant
Elephantidae (family)
Scientific Classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Proboscidea
- Family
- Elephantidae
- Genus
- Elephas / Loxodonta
- Species
- Varies
Ecology
Habitat: Forests, savannas, scrub and grasslands
Diet: Herbivore
Behaviour: Highly social, matriarchal herds with long-distance movement and complex communication.
Conservation: Species-dependent (Asian elephant: Endangered on the IUCN Red List)
About & Interesting Facts
Elephants are the largest living land animals, characterised by a muscular trunk and large ears used in thermoregulation.
- The trunk contains tens of thousands of muscle units.
- Elephants communicate partly using low-frequency infrasound.