As the largest of all living land animals in the world today, elephants are one heavy – and hungry – land animal.
So how much does an elephant weigh?
On average, the African bush elephant tips the scales at around 14,000 pounds (6,350 kg), which is 7 tons.
That’s almost the weight of 3 large SUVs!
Asian elephants are slightly smaller than their African counterparts. But they still weigh between 5,000 to 11,000 pounds (2,267 to 4,989 kg), in most cases. That’s a big animal, for sure!
Average Weights Of Different Types Of Elephants:
- African elephant – 14,000 pounds (6,350 kg)
- Asian elephant – 11,000 pounds (4,989 kg)
- Indian elephant – 10,000 pounds (4,535 kg)
- Sri Lankan elephant – 12,000 pounds (5,443 kg)
- Sumatran elephant – 8,800 pounds (3,991 kg)
How Much Do Elephants Weigh At Birth?
Baby African elephants generally weigh between 200-300 pounds (90 to 136 kg) when they are born. Asian and Indian elephants weigh a bit less.
How Much Do Elephants Eat?
Elephants love to eat all day. In fact they are virtual eating machines.
On average, the larger adult male elephants will eat 250 – 300 pounds (113 to 136 kg) of food every DAY.
Some are known to eat up to 500 pounds (226 kg) of food, or more, in the wild. They can eat for upwards of 16 hours a day.
Elephants you see in the zoo consume 4-5 bales of hay each day to go along with other grains.
Naturally, they drink a lot of water to wash all that food down.
How much do they drink?
Around 40-50 gallons (151 to 189 liters) of water every day.
Finally, all that eating is going to create quite a bit of waste, as well.
An elephant poops around 10 to 15 times each day, which comes out to about 250 pounds (113 kg) of waste every day.
Can Elephants Jump?
No. Adult elephants are not able to jump off the ground.
Can elephants swim?
This is another popular question. And the answer may surprise you.
Elephants are actually very good swimmers (as are many other mammals). They do not tire easily and are known to swim for more than 6 hours at a time.
Did You Know?
The largest elephant that has ever been recorded weighed in at 24,000 pounds (10,886 kg) and stood 13 feet (3.96 meters) high at the shoulders! To put that into perspective, it would take 120 men who weigh 200 pounds on average to equal the same weight.
Resources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant
https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/indian-elephant
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Lankan_elephant
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumatran_elephant
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/a/african-elephant/
https://www.livescience.com/27320-elephants.html