Mammalia

largest of all land mammals, with large ears, a long trunk, and large tusk

Elephants live in a highly organized social structure referred to as a matriarchal herd.   The herd is typically composed of up to ten females and their young.  All of the females in the herd are directly related to the matriarch, who is typically the oldest and largest female.  Males beyond the age of maturity are with the herd only during mating.

Elephants, like humans, have a great impact upon their environment.   Elephants are referred to as a keystone species, a species upon which many other organisms depend.  Elephants make pathways through the environment that are used by other animals to access areas normally out of reach.  The pathways have been used by several generations of elephants, and today people are converting many of them to paved roads.  During the dry season elephants use their tusks to dig into dry river bottoms to reach underground sources of water.  These newly dug water holes may become the only source of water in the area.  Forest elephants create clearings that allow sunlight to reach the forest floor.  This gives ground vegetation a chance to grow and feed the smaller forest animals.

Elephants and people have always had an interesting relationship.   People have had to contend with elephants destroying their crops.  However, it is the elephants who have had the greatest burden.  They have been hunted and poached for their ivory tusks, been prevented from migrating between feeding and water sites, and have lost due to conversion into agricultural areas and human dwellings.  While the whole elephant population throughout Africa is declining, some countries in southern Africa have the opposite problem: too many elephants.  The future of the elephant in Africa is a complex issue that will need to resolve overpopulation in some areas and underpopulation in others.

Benyus, Janine M.  Beastly Behaviors.  Reading, Massachusetts.   Addison-Wesley Publishing Co., 1992.