Classroom lesson 路 Wildlife馃嚦馃嚞 Nigeria

African forest elephants

The smaller, shyer cousin of the savannah elephant

An African forest elephant with a calf wading in a river

Photo 路 Wikimedia Commons

What is it?

African forest elephants are one of two types of elephant in Africa. They are smaller than their cousins on the open savannah, and they live deep in the rainforests of West and Central Africa, including the forests of southern Nigeria. They are very hard to find - some forest rangers only ever see their footprints.

Tell me more

A forest elephant is about two-thirds the size of a savannah elephant. Their ears are rounder, and their tusks point straight down instead of curving outward. Scientists used to think there was only one kind of African elephant. They now know there are two, which split apart millions of years ago.

Because they live in the forest where the trees are thick, forest elephants walk in single file along narrow paths called 'elephant trails'. These trails are used for hundreds of years - children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren of elephants all use the same paths through the forest.

Like all elephants, they live in families led by the oldest grandma, called the matriarch. She knows where to find the fruit trees, where the safe water is, and which other families are friendly. Forest elephants love fruit and can spread the seeds of more than 70 different trees just by eating, walking, and going to the toilet later.

Forest elephants 'talk' to each other in very deep rumbles - so deep that humans cannot hear them with our ears. The rumbles travel through the ground and the air for several kilometres, helping a family stay together when they cannot see each other through the thick leaves.

In the classroom

Walk your class through this in 15 minutes.

Talk together

Discussion prompts

  1. 01Why might a forest elephant be smaller than a savannah elephant? What does the forest do that the savannah doesn't?
  2. 02How can an animal help a forest grow just by eating?
  3. 03If your family talked in sounds nobody else could hear, what kind of things would you say?
Try this

Classroom activity

Draw a 'forest elephant trail' through a forest you imagine. Along the trail, draw the fruit trees the elephants might stop at, the river where they might drink, and the place where the family might rest. What other animals would share their path?

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