Elephants are the largest land mammals on Earth and have some fascinating eating habits. An adult elephant can consume hundreds of pounds of food per day, but exactly how much depends on several factors.
Quick facts on elephant eating
- An adult elephant eats 300-600 pounds of food per day
- They spend 12-18 hours per day feeding
- Elephants only digest about 40% of what they eat
- Their diet consists mostly of grasses, leaves, bark, and roots
- African elephants eat more grasses while Asian elephants eat more leaves and shoots
- Calves can consume 10% of their body weight daily
- Elephants need to drink 30-50 gallons of water per day
How much do baby elephants eat?
Newborn elephant calves weigh around 200-300 pounds at birth. They will consume around 10% of their body weight in milk from their mothers each day. So a 250 pound newborn would drink around 25 pounds or 3-4 gallons of milk daily. By the time an elephant calf is weaned at 2-4 years old, it will eat around 150-200 pounds of solid food per day.
Milk consumption in the first year
In the wild, a newborn calf depends completely on its mother’s milk for the first year of life. The lactation period for elephants is around 2-4 years, but milk remains an important part of the calf’s diet in that first crucial year. Elephants have a lactation yield of around 8-10 liters per day. With the high fat and nutrient content of elephant’s milk, a calf needs around 10 liters (11 quarts) per day to support its rapid growth. This equates to around 20 pounds of milk consumption daily in the first year.
Adult male elephants eat the most
Among adult elephants, males tend to eat more than females. An adult male elephant weighing 6 tons (12,000 pounds) could easily consume 300 pounds of food in a single day. Whereas a smaller 3 ton (6,000 pound) female may only eat around 200 pounds daily. Tusker bull elephants in their prime can weigh 8 tons or more and could consume 500 pounds or even 600 pounds of vegetation per day.
| Elephant | Weight Range | Daily Food Intake |
|---|---|---|
| Newborn Calf | 200-300 lbs | 10% of body weight |
| Juvenile | 1,000-2,000 lbs | 150-300 lbs |
| Adult Female | 4,000-6,000 lbs | 200-300 lbs |
| Adult Male | 8,000-12,000 lbs | 300-600 lbs |
What do elephants eat?
Elephants are herbivores, so their diet consists entirely of plant matter. Their immense size and strength allows them to knock down trees and branches to reach leaves and fruits that other animals cannot access. Elephants ingest vegetation through their trunks and use their tusks to dig up roots and peel bark from trees. Here is a breakdown of what comprises an elephant’s diet:
Grasses
Elephants consume large quantities of grass and grassy vegetation like herbs and dwarf shrubs. Grasses make up 65-75% of the diet for African elephants. They use their trunks to rip out grass and their tusks to dig up roots. Elephants may spend 12-18 hours of the day grazing on grasses.
Leaves, shoots, and bark
Elephants eat leaves, twigs, bark, shoots, and vines from trees and shrubs. This comprises 60-90% of the Asian elephant diet. Their strong trunks allow them to break off branches and Strip bark. Elephants knock down trees to eat leaves that are higher than they can reach with their trunks.
Roots and tubers
Underground tubers and roots are a prized part of the elephant diet, especially in the dry season when other vegetation is scarce. Elephants use their tusks and trunks to dig up roots. These foods are rich in carbohydrates and moisture, both of which elephants need.
Fruits
Elephants enjoy eating fleshy fruits when trees are fruiting. Favorite fruits include mangos, figs, dates, and bananas. Elephants are important dispersers of fruit seeds through their dung.
How do elephants eat?
Elephants spend nearly all their waking hours eating. Here is how elephants consume and process their food:
- They use their trunks to rip out grasses and pick leaves and fruits from trees.
- Tusks are used to dig up roots and strip bark from trees.
- Their large molars grind and chew food into smaller bits for digestion.
- The trunk brings food into the mouth for chewing and swallowing.
- Food passes through a lengthy digestive tract to allow maximum nutrient absorption.
- Roughly 60% of an elephant’s food intake passes through undigested.
Chewing and grinding
Elephants spend around 80% of their feeding time chewing and grinding their food with their teeth. This breakdown allows for better nutrient absorption. Their large, flat molars are specially adapted for grinding up fibrous plant material. Each molar can weigh up to 5 pounds!
Low digestive efficiency
Even with all that chewing, elephants are not very efficient at digesting their food. They only absorb about 40% of the nutrients they consume. The remaining 60% passes through undigested and comes out as waste. This contributes to the massive quantities of vegetation elephants must eat to sustain their bodies.
How often do elephants eat?
Elephants spend nearly all their time grazing and browsing for food. Wild elephants will feed for 12-18 hours out of every day. They consume most of their food in the cooler hours of early morning and late afternoon into evening. Very little time is spent on other activities besides eating and sleeping.
Continuous grazing
Elephants basically eat whenever they are not sleeping. There is no set meal time. Rather, elephants nose around almost constantly in search of their next bite. They grab mouthfuls of grass here and leaves there, wandering slowly while eating. This near-continuous feeding is necessary to fuel their immense bodies.
Resting and sleeping
The only time elephants take a break from eating is to rest or sleep. Adult elephants only sleep around 3-4 hours per 24 hour period. Calves may sleep a bit more. Elephants mostly sleep lying down and can get quick power naps while standing. After a short rest, they immediately resume feeding again.
Why do elephants eat so much?
The key reasons elephants need to eat such massive volumes of food include:
- Their huge body size – Elephants weigh several tons, so need more calories
- Low digestive efficiency – They can only digest about 40% of what they eat
- High fiber diet – Grasses and plants are fibrous and less nutrient-dense
- Lack of hibernation – They stay active year-round and cannot take months off from eating
Generating energy for a large body
An elephant’s large body size and high level of activity requires a lot of energy. Their bodies can burn through 100,000 calories or more per day. Even resting elephants burn a lot of calories. To generate this energy, their digestive systems must process incredible quantities of vegetation daily.
Getting nutrients from fiber
Plants like grasses and tree branches are very fibrous and difficult to digest. Elephants only extract 40% of the nutrients in the food they ingest. They have to make up for this low conversion of food into energy by eating more volume. It takes massive amounts of plant matter for elephants to get the nutrients they require.
Do elephants eat more in the dry or wet season?
Elephants may eat slightly more during the dry season when resources are scarce. But they maintain a fairly consistent diet year-round since they do not hibernate or reduce activity. Here is how their seasonal food intake varies:
- Dry season – Up to 600 pounds daily while feed is scarce
- Wet season – Around 400 pounds daily since feed is abundant
Coping with scarce resources
Elephants can struggle to find enough food during the dry season when vegetation dies back. They may travel long distances between watering holes and graze areas. Elephants have to consume every bit of grass and leaves available in dry areas. Their food intake increases a bit to compensate for the lower quality vegetation.
Making use of abundance
In the wet season, grasslands flourish and trees produce fruits and tender shoots. Elephants can readily find food and will eat good quantities of their favorite fruits. With an abundance of high-quality vegetation, elephants may decrease their total intake slightly while still meeting their nutritional needs.
How do elephants eat differently in the wild vs. captivity?
Elephants in zoos and sanctuaries have somewhat different diets and feeding patterns than wild elephants:
- Wild elephants graze freely on variety of vegetation over vast areas.
- Captive elephants rely on provided fodder like hay, supplements, and chopped produce.
- Captive elephants may be fed set meals rather than continuous grazing.
- Fiber intake is lower for captive elephants.
- Wild elephants spend more time foraging and feeding than captive.
Diverse foraging
In the wild, elephants walk many miles while grazing on a wide variety of grasses, leaves, roots, and fruits. This varied, fibrous diet is ideal for elephant digestion and health. They chomp foliage directly from the branch, getting full nutrition.
Fed fodder
In captivity, elephants are provided with prepared foods like hay, supplementary pellets, grains, and fresh produce. While balanced, these lack the diversity and fiber of a wild diet. Captive elephants tend to be less active and may face weight issues.
Interesting facts about elephants eating
- Elephants spend over 80% of their day feeding and foraging
- Newborn calves grow 1-3 pounds per day thanks to mother’s milk
- Adult elephants can drink 30-50 gallons of water daily
- Each molar tooth weighs 4-5 pounds and wears down with chewing
- Elephants enjoy eating ripe fruits like mangoes and figs when in season
- Elephants may strip an area of edible vegetation then move on to new feeding grounds
- Younger elephants eat mostly soft greens, not tough vegetation
Constant feeding
If not sleeping or resting, elephants are almost always on the move in search of their next meal. Even captive elephants may pace when hungry and anticipate scheduled feeding times.
Tooth wear
An elephant’s molars slowly wear down over time from all the grinding. Each molar is used for 8-10 years before falling out. New ones grow in to replace them throughout an elephant’s lifespan.
Conclusion
Elephants are fascinating, highly-intelligent creatures that happen to eat incredible volumes of vegetation each day. Their immense size and special digestive system requires them to consume 300-600 pounds of plant matter daily. By grazing almost constantly, stripping trees of leaves, digging up roots, and knocking over branches, elephants play a key role in shaping their ecosystem.
