What do Elephants eat? Elephant diet, sex, weight & Facts

What do Elephants eat? Elephant diet, sex, weight & Facts

An African Elephant – scientifically known as the Loxondonta Africana is the largest savannah mammal on earth. These giant mammals known not only for their massive weight but, intelligence and strong social behavior have fascinating life facts you need to know.

The elephant’s diet and feeding habits play a key role in their survival and the environment they inhabit.

What Do Elephants Eat?

Besides the giant nature, it ill amaze you to learn that elephants are strictly plant eaters and do not eat meat. Their diet consists of grass, leaves, bark, roots, and fruit. In some areas, they also eat crops like bananas and sugarcane when they find them.

From just plants alone, a giant fully grown elephant may eat up to 150 kilograms of food daily and just a single adult elephant drinks about 200 liters of water.

The amount consumed by an individual adult elephant may vary depending on the level of hunger and thirst. In some cases, it may double the average consumption amount.

Elephant Feeding Behaviors

Because of the high amount of food required to run their giant body size, you will always sight elephants spending most of their day feeding. Their strong trunks help them pull branches and uproot plants.

Elephants also use their tusks to strip bark from trees, which provides essential nutrients for their body size.

During dry seasons, elephants may dig for water using their trunks and feet. This helps not only them but also other animals that rely on the same water sources – making them essential in the ecosystems lifecycle.

Young elephants feed on their mother’s milk for the first two years until they become ready to start consuming some simple and soft plants.

By the age of five, they rely entirely on solid food and abandon the mother’s milk.

The elephant’s digestive and other body systems are designed to handle the elephant’s giant nature. For example, the elephant’s digestive system is designed to process large amounts of plant material, much as they can only digest about 50% of what they eat.

Elephants need to eat so much in order to sustain sufficient nutrients to keep their body.

Interestingly, elephants are non-ruminant animals, meaning they don’t belch, ruminate, or chew cud like other ruminant animals such as cattle, goats, buffaloes, etc. That’s why elephants gas a lot!

Elephant’s Role in the Ecosystem Lifecycle

While elephants shape the landscape through their feeding habits, hippos also contribute to the ecosystem. They graze on grass and transport nutrients between land and water.

The elephant’s dung fertilizes rivers, supporting aquatic life. Though different in diet, elephants, hippos and other giants share a role in maintaining ecological balance.