An African savanna elephant lives in African grasslands and woodlands. It has large ears and a flexible trunk.
It draws water partway up its trunk, then curls the trunk towards its mouth and pours the water in.
An elephant draws water into its trunk, then pours it into its mouth. African savanna elephants have two finger-like projections at the trunk tip. In the wild, movement links food with water; a Kenyan tracking study compared travel toward water in wet and dry seasons.
GPS records from four female and four male savanna elephants tracked in Kenya’s Tsavo Conservation Area from March 2012 to June 2013 showed stronger directional movement towards water sources in the dry season than in the wet season. The comparison used June–October 2012 for the dry season and March–May 2013 for the wet season.
Large ears and two trunk-tip projections are characteristic. The long trunk repeatedly carries both water and vegetation toward the mouth.
An extinction-risk assessment has not been added yet.
Ivory poaching and habitat loss and fragmentation threaten these elephants. Work in Botswana studies movements and tests ways to protect crops, livestock and elephants.