African forest elephant displaying defensive posture at Dzanga Bai🐘

Photo: JosepMGracia · CC BY-SA 4.0

SpeciesProboscideaElephantidae
Mammals

🐘African forest elephant

Loxodonta cyclotis (Matschie, 1900)

The African forest elephant is an elephant species native to humid tropical forests in West Africa and the Congo Basin. It was first described in 1900. With an average shoulder height of 2.16 m, it is the smallest of the three living elephants. Both sexes have straight, down-pointing tusks, which begin to grow at the age of 1–3 years.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Videos
8
Photos
5
Measurements
0
Also called
Loxodonta cyclotis, Forest elephant
Conservation status
CRCritically endangered

IUCN Red List assessment, 2026.

Population trendDecreasing
Key measurements
Body mass
not recorded
Body length
not recorded
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
not recorded
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the African forest elephant

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

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More about the African forest elephant

In other languages
فيل الغابات الإفريقي (ar), Waldelefant (de), Słoń leśny (pl), éléphant de forêt d'Afrique (fr), פיל יער אפריקני (he), 둥근귀코끼리 (ko) … and 27 more languages

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