The African elephants are elephants of the genus Loxodonta. The genus consists of two extant species of the African bush elephant, which is the large one and the smaller African forest elephant.
The African Elephants of Uganda are the largest living animals on land in Africa. The African Elephants can be found in some of Uganda’s National Parks like Kidepo, Queen Elizabeth and Murchison Falls.
You might already know that elephants are large and energetic but the extent of their size and intelligence may surprise you. The African Elephants can also be called the Savannah elephants.
What You Need To Know
The African Elephant have a gestation period of 22 months and can live in the wild for 50-70 years but some elephants can grow up to 80 years.
On average African elephants are about 10 feet tall on the shoulder and weigh up to 800 Kilograms or 1800 Pounds.
To sustain this massive size an adult elephant has to consume a unanimous amount, up to 50 gallons of water and about 220 pounds of food or approximately 70,000 calories every day.
They spend most of the time feeding and they will rest normally for 2 hours in the wild. While they can walk and swim, elephants are one of the few mammals that can’t jump.
Elephants are distinguished by its high level of intelligence, one sign of their intellect is their superb memory as they migrate from place to place throughout their lives, as elephants can remember locations of water sources along the migration routes.
Their methods of communication and complex social structure is really touching as they demonstrate high concern for members of their families, they take care of the weak or injured members and appear to grieve over a dead companion.
Facts About Uganda’s African Elephants
The recent surveys carried out by the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) done by plane, resulted in an estimation of 2,913 elephants in Queen Elizabeth National Park, 1,330 elephants in Murchison Falls National Park, and 656 elephants between the Kidepo Valley National Park and the Karenga Community Wildlife Management Area making Uganda one of the few countries in Africa with increasing elephant population coming after Botswana, which has the largest elephant population of any African nation.
African elephants are endangered mainly as result of Habitant fragmentation, poaching for ivory and conflict with local farmers are all factors that put elephant’s population at risk
But by studying the complicated nature of conservation we can come closer to finding a way that both people and all elephants with their exemption intelligence and larger than life presence can peacefully co-exist.
Where to Spot The African Elephants in Uganda
- Kidepo valley National Park
- Queen Elizabeth National Park
- Murchison Falls National Park
However those in Bwindi gorilla tracking and Kibale forest National Park Chimp tracking might spot the African forest elephants there.
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