The African elephant is instantly recognizable by its imposing size, characteristic trunks, and complex family groups, and these giants have fascinated people for generations. However, there is much more to know about elephants than what can be seen during a safari.
In honor of World Elephant Day in 2026, the Botswana Elephant Centre presented ten amazing facts about African elephants. Botswana is one of the world's most important countries for the conservation of African elephants and is home to approximately 131,909 such animals.
Northern Botswana is particularly known for large elephant populations, with areas around Chobe National Park offering some of the best opportunities to observe these animals in the wild.
For elephants, national borders are irrelevant. Many migrate through the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA), a vast landscape for nature conservation spanning Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Their migrations depend on the availability of water and food, seasonal conditions, and human activity. Therefore, protecting elephant populations requires cooperation across national boundaries, rather than an isolated approach to individual countries.
Elephants do not just exist in the environment—they actively shape it. By moving through the landscape and feeding, they are capable of pushing through dense vegetation, breaking branches, and knocking down trees, thereby creating trails and altering habitat structure. Furthermore, they contribute to seed dispersal through their dung.
In particularly arid areas, elephants are also known to dig into riverbeds or expand existing water sources in search of moisture. These changes can benefit other animals living in the same landscape. Their role as so-called 'ecosystem engineers' means that their presence can trigger a chain reaction throughout the entire ecosystem.
There is much more in elephant dung than meets the eye. An adult elephant can produce excrement multiple times a day, returning nutrients to the soil and scattering seeds as it moves. For plants and many small organisms that utilize this dung, what the elephant leaves behind can be almost as important as what it consumes.
To sustain life, an animal weighing several tons requires a huge amount of food. An adult African elephant can consume approximately 150–200 kg of grass, leaves, bark, and other vegetation daily. Their dietary habits also contribute to their role as ecosystem engineers. When elephants graze, strip bark, break branches, and sometimes overturn trees, they alter the surrounding vegetation and create opportunities for other species.
Elephants are also major consumers of water. An adult elephant can drink up to 150–200 liters of water per day, although this amount varies depending on conditions, food availability, and the animal's needs. Water plays a crucial role in determining elephant migration routes, especially in the arid landscapes of Northern Botswana. During periods of limited rainfall, access to reliable water sources becomes critically important.
Pregnancy in female elephants is one of the longest among all land mammals. The gestation period for an African elephant lasts about 22 months before giving birth to a calf. Newborn calves are already quite large, weighing approximately 90–120 kg. Despite their size, they still have much to learn, and calves remain closely tied to their family groups as they grow up.
Calves are not raised only by mothers. Other females in the family group can also help care for and protect young calves—this behavior is called allomothering. This means that younger females can gain experience caring for calves before they have their own offspring. Elephant families are highly social, and these relationships play a vital role in raising the next generation.
Many assume that elephants spend most of their time sleeping, but this is not the case. Research on wild African savanna elephants in Botswana has shown that two studied elephants slept an average of only two hours per day. They often slept standing up, and sleep occurred in short bursts rather than one long period. A study conducted in Chobe National Park found that elephants could sometimes remain awake for long periods without apparent sleep. Their sleep patterns also appeared to depend on environmental factors such as temperature and humidity.
Elephants' ability to communicate is far more complex than the familiar sound of a trumpet call suggests. Elephants use a variety of vocalizations, including very low-frequency sounds known as infrasound. These signals can travel long distances across the landscape and may allow elephants to communicate with others outside the range of human hearing. They also communicate through touch, body language, and other vocalizations, giving these highly social animals a surprisingly complex way of maintaining contact with each other.
For communities living near elephants in Northern Botswana, these animals are more than just a safari attraction. They are part of the landscape and daily life. Thus, understanding elephants also means understanding the people, ecosystems, and conservation issues associated with them. The Botswana Elephant Centre in Kasane strives to combine scientific research, education, nature conservation, and local community perspectives to help tell this broader story. The Centre is located at Chobe Safari Lodge in Kasane and is part of an initiative aimed at increasing the accessibility of knowledge about elephant research and conservation for visitors and local residents. For travelers visiting Northern Botswana, it offers another way to learn about the country's elephants beyond observing them from a safari vehicle or boat.
The population of wild elephants living in the forests of Africa is steadily declining. According to estimates from the Wildlife Conservation Fund, there are about 135 thousand African forest elephants remaining.
The greatest damage to these animals has been caused in the forests of Central and West Africa due to illegal hunting. To save these animals in the protected areas of Djanga-Sanga in the Central African Republic, DNA and data analysis methods are being used.
Scientists are trying to identify and count the elephants by collecting DNA from their excrement. DNA analysis obtained from elephant feces will help determine how many different individuals are in the forest and in which areas they are moving. Specialists will test samples from different locations.
Comparing this information with other data will provide a more accurate picture of the elephant population and also determine the migration routes. This information will be very useful for forest monitoring groups.
At the beginning of this century, about two-thirds of the forest elephants in the forests of Central and West Africa died due to large-scale illegal hunting. The main goal of the hunt was to obtain ivory. Although ivory hunting has decreased, the threat to elephants remains, and their forests are shrinking at an alarming rate.
Forests are being cleared for palm oil, cocoa, and rubber plantations, as well as due to the growth of human settlements and other development-related activities. The reduction of forest cover decreases the space for elephants to live and move.
The fragmentation of forest areas affects the movement of elephants between different sections. Under such conditions, it is critically important to know where the elephants are and what their numbers are. DNA, which contains the genetic material of their bodies in elephant excrement, is used by scientists to identify individual animals.
If fecal samples collected in different places show the presence of different DNA, it will allow determining the number of unique elephants in that area. Regular sample collection will allow tracking where the elephants are going and whether there are changes in their numbers. This approach may reduce the need for regular counts of all elephants in the forest.
Efforts to protect elephants involve not only DNA but also preventing illegal hunting. Security service work is being intensified in the Central African Republic and neighboring regions. A tripartite eco-group has been created, which can now pursue poachers even across borders. In Cameroon, local residents are also being assisted in taking legal action against wildlife criminals.
Today, there are about 135 thousand forest elephants in nature. The primary task for their salvation is to determine the number of elephants in the forest, their movement routes, and areas of greatest danger.
