African Forest Elephant
Loxodonta cyclotis
🐘
Chordata
Mammalia
Proboscidea
Elephantidae
Loxodonta
Loxodonta cyclotis
The Forest Giant — The African Forest Elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) is the smaller, more elusive cousin of the Bush Elephant, inhabiting the dense rainforests of Central and West Africa. Once widespread, its populations have been severely reduced by ivory poaching and habitat destruction.
Description
African Forest Elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) — Adapted to life in thick rainforest, this species is more compact than the Bush Elephant, with straighter, downward-pointing tusks and rounded ears. Adults stand about 2.5–3 meters at the shoulder and weigh between 2,000–4,000 kg. They are crucial seed dispersers, consuming a wide variety of fruits and spreading seeds across vast forest distances, thereby shaping entire ecosystems. Forest elephants are slower-reproducing than savanna elephants, with females giving birth only every 5–6 years. Despite being long-lived (up to 65 years), their populations are declining sharply.
Quick Facts
Max Mass
Shoulder Height
Standing Height
Length
Diet
Trophic Level
3500
2.4
3.6
4.9
kg
m
m
m
Mixed Feeder
Herbivores – Grazers
Hunt History
Unlike savanna elephants, forest elephants were less accessible to early hunter-gatherers due to their rainforest habitats. However, archaeological evidence shows that Pleistocene and Holocene humans exploited them for meat and ivory. Cooperative ambushes along forest paths, pit traps, and spears tipped with stone or bone were likely used. Their ivory was especially prized in later trade due to its fine grain.
Earliest Archaeological Evidence of Human Predation:
Lomekwi (Kenya, ca. 3.3 million years ago) — Early stone tools associated with megafauna carcasses, possibly including ancestral elephants.
Middle Stone Age, Central Africa (ca. 100,000 years ago) — Cut-marked elephant bones from forest edge sites show evidence of butchery.
Late Stone Age sites in Cameroon (ca. 7,000 years ago) — Remains of forest elephant bones associated with hunting tools and hearths.
Time & Range
Extinction Status
Extant
Extinction Date
Temporal Range
Region
0
BP
Late Pleistocene
Africa
Wiki Link
Fat Analysis
Fatness Profile:
Medium
Fat %
8
Est. Renderable Fat
280
kg
Targeted Organs
Marrow, brain, visceral fat
Adipose Depots
Visceral (perirenal/mesenteric), limited subcutaneous; marrow, brain lipids
Preferred Cuts
Long-bone marrow & braincase
Hunt Difficulty (x/5)
5