What Do African Elephants Eat?
Caleb Butler 
The world’s largest land mammals are elephants. The difference in ears and trunk set the two different species of elephants apart. African elephants are said to have ears of African continent shape. The two tips on the trunk identify the African elephants. The tusks also called teeth keep growing throughout their life after appearing first time at the age of two years.
Their trunk contains around 150,000 muscle units. The trunk of elephants is the most sensitive organ found in mammals. They use trunks to pick peanuts, suck up water for drinking, and as a snorkel when swimming. The elephants enlarged incisors are called their tusks. Up to three-quarters of their day is spent eating. African Elephants Eat eat roots, fruits, grasses, and bark. Up to 300 pounds of food is consumed by an adult elephant in a single day. Elephants-the hungry animals keep foraging for large quantities of food required for sustaining their massive bodies. They do not sleep much. Silky Terrier Dog Breed Playing Around
The elephant size can be intimate but they are not to be feared. They are herbivores, not predators. African Elephants eat only eat the vegetation. African elephants do not prey on other animals to get food. African Elephants eat leaves, bark, twigs, shrubs, bushes, fruits, roots, and flowers.
African elephants could grow between 8.2 to 13 feet and their weight could be 5,000 to 14,000 pounds. As they are so large, a lot of food is needed for survival. African elephants are always found moving in the African Savannahs and forests for their next meal.
How much do African elephants eat?
African elephants do not get to be the largest land mammal by only having small quantities of food. They require a lot of food. On average, between 200 to 600 pounds of food is eaten per day by an African elephant. Since so much food is required, they sleep very little about two hours of sleep each night. The other time is spent eating or searching for food.
Impact of African elephants on their environment
Most people have no knowledge about the important role of the African elephant’s diet on the environment. As stated above they like to eat a lot of fruits and vegetation. The plants contain seeds and thus elephants distribute seeds in their environment. Since elephants do have not an immense digestive system, only 40 percent of their food is broken down. The remaining food and seeds they eat are passed through their digestive tract. As African elephants travel around searching for food, they disperse seeds across the African forests and Savannahs through their dung. It helps new bushes, grasses, and roots to grow, to boost the health of Savannah’s ecosystem.
