Elephants
From top left to right: the African bush elephant, the Asian elephant and African forest elephant.
Scientific classification
Included groups
Loxodonta 1827 Elephas Linnaeus, 1758 †Palaeoloxodon 1925
Cladistically included but traditionally excluded groups
†Mammuthus Brookes, 1828 †Primelephas Maglio, 1970

The African elephant, Loxodonta africana, in Luanga National Park, Zambia

Elephants are large grey animals with big ears, long noses and ivory tusks. They are the biggest living land mammals. The largest elephant recorded was shot in Angola, 1974. It weighed 27,060 lb (12.27 t) and stood 13 ft 8 in (4.17 m) tall.

At birth, an elephant calf may be as big as 100 kg (225 pounds). The baby elephant develops for 20 to 22 months inside its mother. No other land animal takes this long to develop before being born.