Welcome to Elephant Images

On this website you will find images of wild elephants taken by Will Burrard-Lucas.

About Elephants

Binomial Name: Loxodanta/Elephas

The Elephant is a large, highly intelligent plant eater and the largest land mammal on earth. Elephants are found in many areas of Southern, Eastern and Western Africa, India and Sri Lanka. Elephants are characterized by their long trunk with two tusks, and large ears.

In the wild, African Elephants live up to the age of 60-70 years old, while the Asian Elephant lives up to around 50 years old.

Elephants are known for their intelligence and powerful emotions similar to those of humans. They show very clear signs of grief, joy, pain and happiness. They are highly social creatures forming powerful family bonds and live in herds that are led by one female known as the matriarch. These herds can range from 10 elephants to 100 elephants. Typically, the male elephants will leave the herd when they are around 14 years old to lead solitary lives or live in small groups of males.

Elephants feed on a variety of vegetation in their habitat from grasses to roots and the tops of trees.

Elephants communicate using a variety of sound such as trumpeting and deep rumbles. Recent research has also concluded that Elephants use infra sound, which enables them to communicate with other herd members over incredibly long distances. There are even theories that Elephants can sense these messages with their feet or trunks.

Elephant numbers have been declining fast with tens of thousands of Elephants being killed a year for the ivory trade. It is estimated that there are only around 450,000 African Elephants and 45,000 Asian Elephants left in the wild.