Niche of African Elephants

Elephants fill an essential niche in their ecosystems. They can dig holes in dry
riverbeds, creating watering holes for large animals; and their footprints collect
rainwater, creating watering holes for smaller animals.
Interspecific Interactions That Affect The African Elephants
In Eritrea, a country in the Horn of Africa, olive baboons and elephants have
formed a symbiotic relationship. The baboons drink from water holes dug by the
elephants, and the elephants rely on baboons sitting in the treetops to alert them
to danger.
Oxpeckers are birds that land on elephants, where they eat lice, ticks, and other
parasites living on elephants' skin and hair. This symbiotic relationship benefits
the elephant by removing irritating pests that can spread disease, and the
oxpecker also benefits by getting an easy meal.
African Elephants have interspecific interactions with predators, which try to eat
them. This is known as Predation

Density-Dependent Factors
competition for resources
parasitism by insects and diseases might limit their numbers.
Density-Independent Factors
frequent droughts and low annual rainfall reduce food and water availability for
elephant, thus leading to increased elephant mortality and affecting elephant
dispersal patterns.
The elephant can live in temperatures of 0-50 C
Impact of Human Activities on African Elephant
Many of the conflicts revolve around the growth in human population. As this
increases, urbanisation occurs, and develops; leading to a loss in habitats for
elephants and other wild life. For such large land animals this can cause many
problems.

Conservation Status of the African Elephants

The IUCN Red List, which lists all rare species, classifies African elephants as
Vulnerable. This means the species faces a high risk of extinction in the wild in
the near future.

Solutions for Improving/Maintaining African Elephants Conservation Status

One solution to maintain African elephants conservation status is to ban hunting
elephants for ivory, and to crack down on poachers.

Fun Facts Mother Fucker

Only one mammal cant jump the elephant.

Elephants are the largest land animals in the world.

Elephants have the longest pregnancy of all the animals. It takes a female 22
months from conception to give birth
Elephants spend about 16 hours a day eating
They consume as much as 300-495 pounds of food per day
They have the largest brains in the animal kingdom

Kingdom: Animalia
Subkingdom: Bilateria
Infrakingdom: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Superclass: Tetrapoda
Class: Mammalia
Subclass: Theria
Infraclass: Eutheria
Order: Proboscidea

Family: Elephantidae
Genera & species: Loxodonta africana (African savannah elephant), Loxodonta
cyclotis (African forest elephant), Elephas maximus (Asian elephant)