Elephant eating an apple

What Do Elephants Eat?

Elephants busy feeding in Africa.

Elephants are the largest terrestrial animals on the planet although the African elephant is visibly much larger than the Asian elephant. Elephants are herbivorous animals and will consume almost anything vegetarian from bark, leaves, shrubs, twigs, roots, fruits, and flowers. For their size, it is understandable that elephants require large quantities of food. They use their trunks and tusks to dig out roots, uproot plants, break branches, and pluck leaves.

What Do Elephants Eat?

The African elephant is significantly more prominent compared to the Asian elephant and therefore eats more food than the latter. Elephants prefer feeding late in the evening and early in the morning when the sunshine is minimal. The African elephant inhabits savannahs, marshes, deserts, and mountains. They are primarily browsers and can reach high branches. These elephants eat soft shoots, shrubs, fruits, and leaves. They are also known to rip bark and uproot young trees. The Asian elephant inhabits the forests of Thailand, southern India, and Sri Lanka. They prefer the evergreen forests and are therefore grazers. They feed on the readily available bamboo in addition to low woody plants and grasses.

In captivity, elephants feed on lettuce, cabbage, apples, bananas, and sugarcane, as well as other vegetables and fruits. Hay is the staple food of captive elephant since it can be produced in mass and is much cheaper. Captive elephants consume much less than wild elephants because they spend less energy searching for food and are often guaranteed a next meal.

How Much Do Elephants Eat?

On average, an African elephant requires about 220-250 kilograms of food and 60 liters of water while its Asian counterpart consumes about 130-150 kilograms and 40 liters of water. Elephants consume much food because of their massive size, but their digestive system only digests about 40% of what they eat. If elephants digested 80%, they would be significantly much bigger. Due to the inefficiency of their digestive system, elephants spend up to 18 hours a day foraging. They prefer living closer to the source of food and water and can cross water bodies in search of food.

Elephants have 13 pairs of teeth, but unlike other mammals that replace their baby teeth once, elephants replace their teeth throughout their lifespan. This adaptation is due to the extreme grinding of the teeth that wear the enamel when consuming tough roots and tree barks.

Impact On Ecology

During the rainy season, elephants do not need to travel long distances to feed, but during the dry season, they can travel for over 80 miles in a single day. Luckily, elephants have a good memory and can memorize water points and feeding locations. They can also smell water below the surface and use their trunks and tusks to create water holes. Large populations of elephants can be devastating to the ecosystem as they uproot trees and roots.

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Упражнения «Артикли» (с ответами)

1. Поставьте артикли a или an .

1. … elephant 2. … English dictionary 3. … butterfly 4. … German car 5. … Italian bag 6. … American college 7. … Russian city 8. … French designer 9. … Indian river 10. … egg 11. … notebook 12. … elegant lady 13. … ice-cream 14. … Japanese phone

2. Поставьте артикли a / an или the там, где необходимо.

1. I’d like … chicken sandwich and … glass of … mineral water. (Я бы хотел сэндвич с курицей и стакан минеральной воды.)
2. Would you like … banana or … strawberries? (Ты хочешь банан или клубнику?)
3. She always has … apple, … toast and … cup of … coffee for … breakfast. (Она всегда съедает яблоко, тост и пьет чашку кофе на завтрак.)
4. The fly is on … ceiling in … kitchen. (Муха – на потолке на кухне.)
5. My mother is … accountant and my father is … lawyer. They work in … same company in … centre of … our town. (Моя мама – бухгалтер, а папа – юрист. Они работают в одной компании в центре нашего города.)
6. How much are … her Italian lessons? – Ten dollars … hour. (Сколько стоят ее занятия по итальянскому языку? – Десять долларов в час.)
7. Where are … dogs? – They are in … garden. (Где собаки? – Они в саду.)
8. … cats like eating … fish. … cows like eating … grass. … birds like eating … insects. (Кошки любят есть рыбу. Коровы любят есть траву. Птицы любят есть насекомых.)
9. My favourite subjects are … chemistry and … biology. (Мои любимые предметы – химия и биология.)
10. There is … parrot in … cage. And there are … pieces of … fruit in it. (В клетке попугай. И в ней есть кусочки фруктов.)
11. My granny lives in … small village in … country. (Моя бабушка живет в маленькой деревушке в сельской местности.)
12. Your baby shouldn’t sit in … sun on … hot day. (Вашему малышу не следует сидеть на солнце в жаркий день.)
13. Please open … book. … exercise is on … page 68. (Пожалуйста, откройте книгу. Упражнение находится на странице 68.)
14. Ann has been looking for … job for … long time. (Аня ищет работу долгое время.)
15. What’s … matter? — I missed … 6 o’clock train. (Что случилось? – Я не успел на 6-часовой поезд.)
16. Do you like … vegetables? (Ты любишь овощи?)
17. … mother has got … terrible headache today. (У мамы сегодня ужасная головная боль.)
18. There were … tears in … her eyes. (В ее глазах были слезы.)
19. She is … very nice woman but her sons are … bad boys. (Она очень хорошая женщина, но ее сыновья – плохие парни.)
20. Look at … woman. She is … neighbor I told you about. (Посмотри на женщину. Это соседка, о которой я тебе говорил.)

3. Поставьте артикли a / an или the , где необходимо.

1. Yesterday I bought … pair of … shoes. Unfortunately … shoes are too tight. (Вчера я купила пару туфель. К сожалению, туфли слишком узкие.)
2. We had … dinner in … restaurant … last night. – What is … name of … restaurant? (Вчера ночью мы ужинали в ресторане. – Как называется ресторан?)
3. Tony has two children: … boy and … girl. They are … twins. … girl is in … France now. (У Тони двое детей: мальчик и девочка. Они близнецы. Девочка находится сейчас во Франции.)
4. Would you like another piece of … cake? – No, … cake is too fat for me. (Хотите еще один кусок торта? – Нет, для меня торт слишком жирный.)
5. His office is on … Floor 5. And I live on … tenth floor. (Его офис находится на этаже 5. А я живу на десятом этаже.)
6. Little Mike leaves for … school very early because … school is quite far from … his home. (Маленький Майк уходит в школу очень рано, потому что школа довольно далеко от его дома.)
7. Lara saw … letter under … door. She read … letter and started crying. (Лара увидела под дверью письмо. Она прочитала письмо и начала плакать.)
8. Did you enjoy … food at … party … last Friday? (Тебе понравилась еда на вечере в прошлую пятницу?)
9. Roger is … scientist, he works for … government. (Роджер – ученый, он работает на правительство.)
10. We go to … gym twice … week. (Мы ходим в спортзал дважды в неделю.)

4. Поставьте артикли там, где необходимо.

1. I come to … work by … bus. Today … bus was a bit late. (Я езжу на работу на автобусе. Сегодня автобус немного опоздал.)
2. … Jack is … youngest but … cleverest boy at … school. (Джэк – самый младший, но самый умный мальчик в школе.)
3. It rained, so I stayed at … home in … evening. But today … sun is shining brightly in … sky. (Шел дождь, поэтому я остался дома вечером. Но сегодня ярко светит солнце в небе.)
4. On … Monday … kids were tired and they went to … bed very early. (В понедельник дети устали и пошли спать очень рано.)
5. My wife is … best woman in … world and I’m … happiest husband! (Моя жена – лучшая женщина на свете, а я самый счастливый муж!)
6. They are having … test on … third of December. (У них будет тест третьего декабря.)
7. What … beautiful painting! … artist is such … talented person. (Какая красивая картина! Художник – такой талантливый человек.)
8. Robin Hood robbed … rich and helped … poor. (Робин Гуд грабил богатых и помогал бедным.)
9. David is … old friend of mine. He plays … guitar perfectly. His sister has been playing … tennis since … age of ten. (Давид — мой старый друг. Он отлично играет на гитаре. Его сестра играет в теннис с 10 лет.)
10. … Jacksons live in that lovely cottage with … fantastic garden. (Семья Джэксонов живет в том милом коттедже с фантастическим садом.)
11. Sam used … drugs and was sent to … prison in … August. What … shame! (Сэм применял наркотики и был отправлен в тюрьму в августе. Какой позор!)
12. … Harrisons are not religious and they never go to … church. (Семья Гаррисонов не религиозна, и они никогда не ходят в церковь.)
13. He has been in … hospital for … month. (Он лежит в больнице в течение месяца.)
14. … English are very fond of … gardening. (Англичане очень увлекаются садоводством.)
15. I’ve tried to learn … Japanese many times. (Я пробовал изучать японский язык много раз.)
16. She is … famous actress and she often appears on … TV. (Она – известная актриса и часто появляется на телевидении.)
17. It’s such … original idea! Besides you’ve got … good sense of humour. (Это такая оригинальная идея! Кроме того, у тебя хорошее чувство юмора.)
18. On … rainy day … castle looks like … prison. (В дождливый день замок выглядит как тюрьма.)

5. Поставьте артикли с именами собственными, если это необходимо.

1. … Cairo is … capital of … Egypt. (Каир – столица Египта.)
2. It was so picturesque in … Crimea … last summer. (В Крыму было так живописно прошлым летом.)
3. . London stands on … Thames. (Лондон стоит на Темзе.)
4. I had … my holiday in … northern Italy … last year but I’m going to cross … Atlantic ocean and visit … USA … next year. (Я провел отпуск в северной Италии в прошлом году, но в следующем году я собираюсь пересечь Атлантический океан и посетить США.)
5. … Moon moves round … Earth. (Луна движется вокруг Земли.)
6. … Great Patriotic war started in 1941. (Великая Отечественная война началась в 1941 году.)
7. … Volga is … longest river in … Russia. (Волга – самая длинная река в России.)
8. … Ukraine and … Turkey are separated by … Black sea. (Украину и Турцию разделяет Черное море.)
9. My friend usually goes to … Alps in … spring by … plane. (Мой друг обычно ездит в Альпы весной на самолете.)
10. … Urals are lower than … Caucasus. (Уральские горы ниже Кавказа.)
11. … Great Britain is situated on … two large islands. (Великобритания расположена на двух больших островах.)
12. … Christmas and … Easter are my favourite holidays. (Рождество и Пасха – мои любимые праздники.)
13. It takes about … hour to get from … Domodedovo airport to … Lenin street. (Требуется около часа, чтобы добраться от аэропорта Домодедово до улицы Ленина.)
14. What’s … weather like today in … Australia? (Какая сегодня погода в Австралии?)
15. … Colorado river flows through … Grand Canyon. (Река Колорадо протекает через Большой Каньон.)
16. My English friend took me to see … National gallery, … Houses of … Parliament and … Tower bridge. (Мой английский друг взял меня посмотреть Национальную галерею, Здания Парламента и Тауэрский мост.)
17. … Statue of … Liberty was … present from … French people. (Статуя свободы была подарком от французского народа.)
18. … Galaxy where we live is called … Milky Way. (Галактика, в которой мы живем, называется Млечным путем.)

Также разобрать упражнения индивидуально можно с репетиторами английского по скайпу. Пробное занятие бесплатное.

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What do elephants eat in the wild?

The majestic African elephant is a herbivore that eats mostly grass, flowers and wild fruits, tree bark, leaves, roots and twigs.

Ask “what do elephants eat”, and the answer can be almost everything on the savanna. When an elephant comes to a forest it doesn’t just pick leaves from a tree. It consumes most of the tree!

Did you know that elephants eat for 18 hours per day? That’s nearly 80% of an elephant’s daily routine contributed towards feeding itself.

Perhaps you’re really thinking, why are peanuts not at the top of the list when it comes to an elephant’s favorite food? Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but this is a myth which originated in the days when elephants first became an attraction.

Peanuts don’t even grow in the elephant’s habitat, so how do elephants even know whether they enjoy peanuts or not?

The sacred elephant is the largest land mammal to walk the Earth today. They are wise, intelligent and super emotional creatures that shed real tears. In fact, there are a bunch of weird and wonderful facts, so let’s jump right in with a story on what do elephants eat.

What Does an Elephant Eat?

Elephants are the ultimate vegetarians. They are herbivores that live on an incredibly varied diet that changes with the seasons. Whether they are living in the savannah or the jungle, these majestic creatures are always on the lookout for their next meal.

What do elephants eat in the savannah?

The famous African elephants spend their days mainly eating the following foods:

• Grass, especially the thick elephant grass that’s almost two meters high.
• Flowers and wild fruits, such as figs and mangoes.
• Tree leaves, like their giraffe counterparts.
• Tree bark, which is full of calcium and nutrients.
• Bamboo, where they can find it.
• Just about any natural flora they can find on the African savanna.

While an elephant’s favorite food varies according to each animal, grass and herbs make up the staple of their diet.

What do elephants eat in the jungle?

The lesser-known and generally smaller African forest elephant lives in the jungles of central Africa. Like their savannah-dwelling cousins, these giants can eat almost any vegetation.

Many animals are browsers or grazers. Elephants are both, taking food from the ground and the trees. In the jungle, an elephant eats more fruit. Research has found these elephants eating up to 72 different types of fruit.

It’s easy to see where elephants have been because these giants have use for almost every part of a plant. Across Africa, you will find forest trails that appear as bulldozers created them. Decimated trees lie on their side, their trunks snapped in two. The green has gone and uprooted trees lie around.

Well, that’s because of elephants. They don’t just eat the leaves, they chew on the entire tree.

Do elephants eat meat?

Weighing up to seven tons, you’d expect elephants to require a lot of protein. But elephants don’t eat meat. While you won’t see one munching on a wild antelope, they do unavoidably eat animal proteins – like ants, bugs, and even bird eggs.

They also enjoy different parts of plants that can provide protein. When plants are thriving in the rainy season, nutrients are at their highest, which compensates for the dry season.

What Do African Elephants Eat During a Drought?

The dry seasons bring long months of droughts and tough times in Africa, even more so with climate fluctuations. What elephants eat changes along with their new environment – these animals are incredibly smart.

Elephants use their tusks to churn the ground, then dig with their trunks to create hollow caverns several meters deep. This is to obtain salts and minerals from the earth.

This is also a vital part of the savannah ecosystem for other native wildlife species. After the elephants churn up the soil other animals can also dig in and enjoy its benefits.

How Much Does an Elephant Eat in a Day?

An adult African elephant consumes between 100-270 kg of food every day.

Elephants love to eat tree bark and use their curved tusks to carve into the tree and tear off strips to feed on. It looks pretty dry to us but it is one of their favorite food sources.

Tree bark helps their digestion as it contains calcium and roughage. This enables the clear passage of fruits and plants in their vegetarian-based diet. So without tree bark, an elephant can’t process 100-270 kg of food every day.

Elephant Diet Benefits

Variety is the spice of life when it comes to an elephant’s diet. They aren’t fussy eaters and enjoy many different types of flora.

During the dry season, elephants source extra vitamins and minerals from the ground when digging for water.

Juicy fruits are a treat for elephants, such as apricots and marula fruits. This bumps up an elephant’s protein and energy levels, adding more nutritional value to its diet.

How Do Elephants Eat?

An elephant’s trunk can grow to 2 meters in length and weigh up to 140 kg. The trunk is phenomenally powerful, yet delicate.

African elephants have two finger-like tips at the end of their trunks to grab small objects and help get food into their mouths. The tips are so dainty they are also used to wipe their eyes.

Elephants also use their trunks to help push and pull trees out from the ground. These trunks can lift up to a whopping 350 kg. That’s like the weight of four mature male leopards!

A human body has 639 muscles. An elephant’s trunk has 40,000 muscles. It’s one of the greatest feats of nature that’s ever existed on our planet. Elephants use their trunk to eat by ripping grass from the ground, pulling branches from trees, and transferring food to their mouths.

Best Places to See Elephants Eating in the Wild

The best time to see an elephant eating food in the wild is during the dry season, which is May to October in Southern Africa, plus January to March and June to September in East Africa. This is when elephants often congregate along a riverfront or at a waterhole.

Addo Elephant National Park is the third-largest national park in South Africa and is one of Africa’s famous conservation success stories. Addo started in 1931 to save the local population of elephants and is now home to over 450 elephants.

In Addo it’s virtually guaranteed you’ll spot elephants. You can drive around the park in your own vehicle or take one of the excellent half-day safaris operated by park rangers. This park is superb value for a short South Africa safari experience.

Chobe National Park in Botswana is usually the best place in Africa to see wild elephants. There are more elephants here than anywhere else in the world and they roam in enormous herds.

You can encounter wild elephants playing and splashing around in the water, swimming from one island to the other with their trunks as snorkels. It’s a prime highlight of a Botswana safari.

Amboseli National Park offers game drives specifically focused on elephants. Rangers have studied Amboseli’s elephants since 1972 and know the elephants individually.

What Do Elephants Drink?

Elephants drink water of course. On average, an elephant drinks up to 200 liters of water per day. That’s as big as a large bathtub.

However, an elephant does not require this amount of water to survive on the savannah. They only need half of their daily consumption to survive. Like other African animals they can store the extra for those days they must go without.

They use their trunk to suck up 14 liters at any one time. However, they don’t suck the water all the way up. Instead, they only suck it halfway then squirt it into their mouths.

Not only does the trunk act as an extra limb for the elephant, but the elephant’s trunk is also a combination of its nose and upper lip. They use it to smell and identify food as well.

Do Elephants Really Cry?

Evidence proves elephants do cry real tears of emotion and show feelings of sorrow and delight.

Elephants live up to 70 years old and what’s interesting is they live longer out in the wild than in captivity. This is down to their emotional instincts. Being out in the wild, they are free to roam wherever their souls may take them.

Elephants feel emotional pain when another elephant passes away. They turn temporarily mute and mourn another elephant’s death. Elephants also use their trunk to cover dead relatives with soil and grass.

An Elephant Never Forgets

Do you know the term ‘an elephant never forgets’? Well, how could they, an elephant’s brain weighs up to 5 kg. How ridiculous is that?

It should be no big surprise that they are very intelligent animals, and no wonder, having this amount of brain capacity lodged between two humongous ears.

They’re able to store information such as social learning skills and remember things for many years. They can recognize other elephants they met on the African savannah many moons ago.

Independent Female Elephant

Independent females raise your trunks. Woohoo to these wondrous females who take ownership and leadership to the next level out on the savannah. Elephants have lived in matriarchal, female-led societies from the beginning, so why haven’t we?

Just like in the elephant scene from the Jungle Book, when all the elephants line up in order of age and size, there is a hierarchy among the elephant social structure.

Basically, the older and most experienced female elephant is usually the leader and has the most influence on the herd. A matriarchal herd is a family unit of up to 25 elephants following their female leader.

But, there is a white elephant in the room here. What about male elephants? Well, they drew the short straw, unfortunately. Once a male elephant reaches its teens it will leave the herd and wander the savannah in bachelor herds, searching for a female mate.

Only later can they make elephant babies and start their own herd. However, she’s still the boss.

Elephant Body Language

The body language of an elephant is very intriguing and easily identifies how an elephant is feeling. Elephants wag their tails, just like our pet dogs, and what does a classic tail-wag mean?

The answer is happy. Yes, it’s that simple, if you see an elephant wagging its tail you know the elephant is happy to see you.

If they sense danger, however, their tail will go stiff and straight, normally to one side meaning the elephant is anxious. When elephants flap their ears and stamp their feet it means they are angry. So retreat and get out of the way.

The way an elephant holds its trunks also tells us what they are doing. If an elephant lifts its trunk in the shape of an ‘S’ it is detecting scents carried by the wind.

Endangered Elephants

The IUCN has listed both African and Asian elephants as vulnerable and endangered to the risk of extinction. The biggest threat to the elephant community is the ivory trade because its value is now greater than gold.

Elephants are a keystone species and play an important role in the environment and ecosystem they live in. Elephants drop dung which is full of seeds from all the vegetation plants they eat, meaning new plants will grow to help the savannah ecosystem.

Conservation groups are fighting hard to bring elephant numbers back up and stop poaching, by working with governments to close ivory markets and illegal trade. They are working closely with farmers and local communities to implement and encourage new ways on how to share the land with these mighty mammals.

You can do your bit just by going on an African safari. Every safari helps preserve the wilderness. So you can connect with your wild side while helping African elephants eat and thrive.

What Don’t Elephants Eat?

Now that you’ve seen what elephants eat, their large size should come as no surprise. Whatever vegetation these herbivorous giants find, they will consume.

It’s quite a sight seeing elephants eating in the wild. The best way to experience it is to book an African safari where you’ll be able to get close enough to hear them chew.

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