How Long Do Elephants Live? Interesting Facts About Loving Giants

Elephants are popular and beautiful creatures of this world.

These giants have made people curious all the time about their habits and lifestyles. Elephants can be called one of the largest mammals to exist in the world.

An average African elephant can weigh up to 13,228 lb (6,000 kg), and an Asian elephant can weigh only slightly less in its full adult life. Elephants are mostly found in the savannas, grasslands, and forests in Africa and Asia.

Elephants are one of those mammals that are herbivores. They are one of the most protected animal species in the world.

Although elephants are very popular, they are also one of the most endangered species in the wild. There are only 40,000-50,000 elephants left in the world as of 2020.

The African elephants are now considered to be Critically Endangered. In comparison, Asian elephants are considered to be on the brink of extinction due to poaching for their ivory and loss of habitat due to the destruction of the environment by human activities. The elephant populations have drastically declined in the last few decades.

If you are looking for more interesting facts, check out these fun facts articles on how long elephants are pregnant and pack animals.

Do wild elephants live longer than their zoo counterparts?

Elephants are some of the most social animals after humans. These animals are mostly found living in groups or herds in nature. Elephants are born in these herds and spend most of their long lives in them.

The general average lifespan of an Asian elephant is 48 years in the wild. The average lifespan of an African elephant is 60-70 years in the wild.

But scientists believe that living in zoos in isolation causes shorter lifespans in elephants due to extreme mental trauma.

Captive elephants have been shown to have shorter lives compared to their counterparts in the wild. Researchers in one scientific study conducted on female African elephants found that those females living in the wild had a longer lifespan than their counterparts in the zoos.

One of the factors for shorter life expectancy in zoos is the stress caused by isolation and captivity. Researchers researching European zoos that hold Asian elephants found female elephants to have shorter lives. The African elephants live only for 17 years on average in a zoo in comparison to up to 70 years in the wild.

Wild elephants live longer due to less risk of stress and other mental traumas. However, they are at high risk of poaching in the wild.

It is recorded that the longest living elephant alive in the wild was Indira, who lived up to be 90 years in age. She managed to escape poaching and lived a long life in the wild.

This also indicates that in a proper wild environment, elephants can live to be 100 years in age; that is only a few years shorter than the bowhead whale, the longest living animal in the world. Elephants, whales, and tortoises are known to be a few of the animals that have long lives.

Oldest Known Elephants

Elephants live longer lives than humans. Some of the oldest known elephants are listed below.

Lin Wang held the title of the oldest living elephant in the world until 2003 when he died at the age of 88 in the Taipei Zoo.

Indira, an Asian elephant, lived up to be 90 years old in a rehabilitation center for elephants in Karnataka's Sakrebailu.

Shirley, a circus elephant, lived to be 73 years old. She had the longest lifespan of captive elephants.

Tyrzana is the longest living African elephant in North America. She passed away in 2020 at the age of 56.

How can we protect elephants?

Elephants are some of the most protected animals in the world. Scientists have given a lot of data on the conservation of elephants in captivity and in the wild. Many treaties have been formed to identify the status of the elephant species and provide them with the support they need for long lives.

Conservation sites like elephant sanctuaries provide captive elephants with care and protection from poaching in the wild and provide herd life and a wild area simultaneously. These sanctuaries provide the support these animals need to rehabilitate into the wild. Some of these sanctuaries provide tourist attractions to help fund their charities for further operation.

Sensitivity towards elephants invading human croplands in Asia can help in the protection of elephants. These sanctuaries also provide grazing areas for these elephants so that they do not enter these human areas. They are limiting the invasion of humans into the forest land for agriculture by protecting these lands under a Sanctuary and National Parks Act.

You can also adopt elephants to help fund these conservation efforts. You can adopt an elephant through the World Wildlife Foundation and other ethical organizations.

Disregarding ivory jewelry and products can help decrease ivory poaching of elephants which is one of the primary reasons for the decline of African elephants. Not using even the antique ivory helps in not further encouraging poaching of elephants.

Scientists have found through the technique of carbon dating that most of the ivories poached are only a few years old.

Boycotting zoos where elephants are kept in captivity of cages and that are known for ill-treating animals is extremely important. These places are known for the cruelty they inflict on animals.

Many of the world's zoos are known to use measures like barbaric hitting and fasting to keep the elephants in control for joy rides and tricks. Boycotting of these zoos will help stop the breeding of elephants in captivity and encourage rehabilitating them into the wild.

Asian elephants being used for carrying logs and humans for tourism being made illegal will help maintain the long lives of Asian elephants, which are already one of the Endangered species of the world.

The elephant lifespan depends on many of the environmental factors that they are kept in and born in. These majestic animals are one of the most endangered animals on the planet. They need our help and support to survive in the wild and flourish to the numbers that once were.

What shortens the lifespan of an elephant?

Many factors shorten the lifespan of an elephant in the wild and in a zoo.

The survival of an elephant in the wild is affected by the early years of the elephant's life. Natural predators tend to attack the children born sick and the orphaned elephants.

Human impact is one of the primary reasons for the decline in long elephant lifespans. Human activity like the destruction of more than half of the world's wildland for development has caused a loss of habitat for elephants and many other animal species.

The poaching of elephants in Africa for their ivory tusk is also a significant cause of the decline in the lifespan of African elephants. The Asian elephant used for log carrying has caused a substantial decrease in their life expectancy due to excessive weight on their backs.

In Asia, elephants live in close proximity to human populations, causing them to invade into cropland. Humans attack these elephants to protect the crop, sometimes brutally killing them.

Due to smaller areas for increasing populations of elephants, the shared water sometimes causes parasitic diseases. Research has also found that zoo elephants have several diseases like herpes, arthritis, and obesity, which risk early death.

Many Asian elephants have been known to get herpes due to sharing space with African elephants in captivity. Lack of free movement due to lack of free land for grazing causes obesity in elephants shortening the elephant lifespan.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for how long elephants live, then why not take a look at articles abouthairless animals or animals that live in the jungle.