Wild Facts About the Big Five: No. 5 – the African Elephant [Infographic]
The go-to resource for planning your safaris. Find all you need to know about the top destinations and make your wildlife travel dreams come true.
Discover Safari Holidays now

Often referred to as Gentle Giants, elephants are highly intelligent creatures with a brain structure, social structure and behavior that are strikingly similar to ours. They reach puberty when they are around 13 years old, give birth to a single calf and in rare cases to twins, and their median life expectancy is 70 years. Sounds pretty familiar, doesn’t it?
The African elephant is on top of everyone’s list when traveling to Africa. It is indeed one of the most majestic members of the Big Five family, as well as the gentlest and most intelligent. But what are the Big Five animals? In no particular order, they are the rhinoceros, the lion, the African leopard, the Cape buffalo and the African elephant. We’ve already discussed the first four, and it’s now time to reveal some interesting facts about the African elephant, gathered in an infographic, the fifth and final one in our series.
There are three species of elephant – the African bush elephant, which is also the largest land mammal on Earth, the African savanna elephant, and the Asian elephant. The latter are smaller than their African cousins and have played an important role in Asia’s culture and religion for centuries.
Between three and five million elephants roamed the savannas and forests of Africa at the beginning of the 20th century. According to the Great Elephant Census, only 352, 271 reside in the wild today, taking refuge in the continent’s national parks.
Did you enjoy this infographic? Share it with your friends and make sure you check the other four in the series!
Would you like to get close to Africa’s Gentle Giants and observe these majestic creatures in their natural habitat? Go to BookAllSafaris.com and choose an elephant safari!