Elephant (Loxodonta Africana)
Being a mixed feeder depending greatly on browse, the elephant is in this study the odd one out. Elephants like other hind-gut fermenters depend more on food quantity than food quality and their digestion is very incomplete. The most nutritious and tasty feed that can be found in large quantity (mainly grass in the rainy season and browse in the dry season) are chosen by elephants (Estes 1997). An optimum habitat for elephants includes sufficient amounts of dry matter. The proportion of grass and browse in the feed of elephants depend on availability (Field 1971). They do not need to drink daily, but when dwelling close to water they bathe often.
Responsible for this page:
Director of undergraduate studies Biology
Last updated:
05/23/05