How Much Does an Elephant Weigh? Adults, Calves and Records

How much do the three elephant species weigh?

There are three living elephant species, and they differ a lot in size. The African bush elephant is the largest land animal on Earth. The Asian elephant is smaller, and the African forest elephant is the smallest.

The African bush elephant figures come from a detailed 2016 study of body size in elephants and their extinct relatives, which looked at fully grown animals in good condition. They describe 90% of mature bulls and cows, so smaller and larger individuals exist. Forest elephant weights are poorly known because they live in dense rainforest and have rarely been measured; older estimates are probably too high.

Why are male elephants so much heavier than females?

In all elephants, males are larger, but the gap is biggest in African bush elephants, where a mature bull can weigh about twice as much as a mature cow. Size matters for bulls because they compete for females. In contests, the larger bull usually wins, and big, older bulls in musth father most calves.

Elephants also keep growing for much longer than most mammals. Females reach their full height at around 25 years of age, but bulls keep growing until about 40, when the growth plates in their long bones finally fuse. That is why the heaviest elephants are always old bulls. Weight also changes with the seasons: an elephant can lose a great deal of condition during a long dry season and regain it when the rains bring fresh grass.

How much does a baby elephant weigh?

Elephant calves are born after a pregnancy of about 18–22 months, and they are big babies. A newborn usually weighs 90–120 kg (200–265 lb) and stands roughly 85–90 cm (about 3 ft) at the shoulder. It can stand within about half an hour of birth.

Calves grow quickly on their mother’s milk. Captive-born African calves gain around 0.5 kg (1 lb) a day in their early months. Calves drink only milk for about three months and then slowly add plants, but they keep suckling for two years or more, which supports their fast early growth. Read more in How long are elephants pregnant?

What was the heaviest elephant ever?

Claims about giant elephants are common, but few were measured carefully. The largest well-measured African bush elephant was a bull shot in Angola in 1974. From its measurements, it is calculated to have stood about 3.96 m (13 ft) at the shoulder and weighed about 10.4 tonnes (11.5 short tons). A famous bull shot in Angola in 1955 and displayed at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., is often described as the biggest, but analysis of its bones suggests it was shorter than once claimed.

For Asian elephants, the largest reliably recorded bull was shot in Assam, India, in 1924. It stood about 3.43 m (11.3 ft) and was estimated to weigh around 7 tonnes. All of these record weights are estimates; none of these animals was put on a scale.

Some extinct relatives were far larger. Certain straight-tusked elephants of the genus Palaeoloxodon may have reached well over 10 tonnes, though their weights are reconstructed from fossil bones and are uncertain.

How do scientists weigh an elephant?

In zoos, elephants are weighed on large platform scales, often built into the floor of their barn, and they can be trained to step on voluntarily. These regular weighings help keepers track growth and health.

Weighing a wild elephant is almost impossible, so researchers estimate weight instead. The most common method uses shoulder height or foot size: because these grow in step with body mass, formulas based on elephants of known weight can turn a measurement into an estimate. Today scientists also use photographs taken from a known distance, or images from drones, to measure body size without disturbing the animals.

How does an elephant’s weight compare with other animals?

A large bull African bush elephant is the heaviest animal on land. It outweighs a white rhinoceros or a hippopotamus, which usually reach around 1.5–3.5 tonnes, by roughly two to one. A giraffe is taller, but a big giraffe weighs only around 1–2 tonnes.

In the sea, elephants are small by comparison. A blue whale can weigh well over 100 tonnes, more than 15 large bull elephants. See the largest animals in the world for more giants on land and in the oceans.