The Elephant in the Wild

Herds of Elephants are made up of around ten related adult females with their young.

Wild African Elephants

There is a matriach elephant in each herd, generally the oldest and largest female. She sets the pace and the herd's activities. Males leave the herd at puberty (around 13 - just like humans) and will travel alone or in bachelor groups.

African Elephants will communicate with each other using various sounds, we would describe as: growls, rumbles, moans and bellows - which can travel for over a mile.

Nowadays most wild elephants are confined to Wild Life Parks and Game Reserves. Although these are huge areas, they are somewhat restrictive and elephants can have a majot impact on the environment - reducing open forest into grassland in a way that they would not if they could travel further.