Forest Elephants

Forest elephants were thought to be a subspecies of the African elephant, but recent research has discovered that they are in fact a separate species. The forest elephants have straighter tusks and more rounded, smaller ears than the savannah elephants and their skin is greyer, with a fine covering of hair. Forest elephants live in much smaller groups, with males being solitary and females staying with one or two of their offspring. They are found in Central and West Africa’s dense lowland jungle and live on a diet of mostly bark, fruit, grass and leaves, pushing the trees to eat from them.

They also come together in large numbers in clearings in the forest known as "bais", most famously in the parks of Dzanga Sangha in Central African Republic, where they dig down in to the soil with their trunks and tusks to get at mineral salts missing from their normal diet. This has a huge impact on their habitat and generations of forest elephants have created a network of trails throughout the African rainforest linking their favourite fruit trees and bai’s.

The Forest elephant is classified as Endangered by the 2000 IUCN Red List. They have been hunted to the brink of extinction for their ivory. Pressure on the ivory trade and improved protection from poachers has helped to restore numbers in some areas and thankfully tourism is now proving to be part of this success story too.