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Elephants are the world's largest land mammals. Their noses, gestation period (nearly two years), front teeth, and maybe even their memory, are the longest in the animal kingdom. They, along with their extinct relatives, have lived everywhere, except Australia and Antarctica, from sea level to heights of more than 3600m, in habitats ranging from deserts to rain forests to glaciers. In fact, if it were not for humans, elephants would probably rate among the most successful species on Earth.
Once forming an almost continuous series of populations from Africa to China, they are now made up of just two main groups, African and Asian Elephants, which are now seperated by several thousand miles. Loss of habitat and the ivory trade are the two biggest factors in the decline in elephant population. During the 1980's over half of Africa's elephants had been killed and the elephant population was reduced by 700,000. Regarding habitat, the pattern is a familiar one as traditional elephant habitat is carved up for agricultural use and the elephants confined to ever shrinking areas.
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