African forest elephant
Loxodonta cyclotis (Matschie, 1900)
CRCritically Endangeredmammals
The African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) is a mammal in the family Elephantidae and the order Proboscidea, also called the forest elephant, Semliki elephant or African pygmy elephant. It is a giant herbivore by size class, with an adult body mass of 4.75 tonnes, and it has a terrestrial lifestyle and a cathemeral activity pattern.
Quick facts about the African forest elephant
The IUCN Red List classifies the African forest elephant as Critically Endangered, an IUCN threatened category.
- Weight
- 4.37 t – 4.75 tsrc for Weight
- Length
- Not recorded
- Height
- 2.16 msrc for Height
- Lifespan
- 65 yearssrc for Lifespan
- Diet
- Herbivoresrc for Diet
- Longest recorded lifespan
- 80 years
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- forestsrc for Habitat
- Gestation
- 670 dayssrc for Gestation
- Young per litter or clutch
- 1src for Young per litter or clutch
- Age at maturity
- 9.99 years – 11.6 yearssrc for Age at maturity
- Litters or clutches a year
- 0.21src for Litters or clutches a year
- Active
- Day and night (cathemeral)src for Active
- Lifestyle
- Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
- Conservation status
- Critically Endangered (IUCN)src for Conservation status
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
How big is the African forest elephant?
Photos of the African forest elephant
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Where does the African forest elephant live?
Not recorded
What is the African forest elephant?
The African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) 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 (7 ft 1 in), it is the smallest of the three extant elephant species. Both sexes have straight, down-pointing tusks, which begin to grow at the age of 1–3 years.
The African forest elephant lives in highly sociable family groups of up to 20 individuals comprising adult cows, their daughters and sons. When young bulls reach sexual maturity, they separate from the family group and form loose bachelor groups for a short time, but usually stay alone. Adult bulls associate with family groups only during the mating season.
The African forest elephant forages on leaves, seeds, fruit, and tree bark of at least 96 plant species. Since it disseminates partly digested seeds for at least 5 km (3.1 mi) through its droppings, it contributes significantly to maintaining the diversity and structure of the Guinean Forests of West Africa and the Congolese rainforests.
During the 20th century, overhunting caused a sharp decline of the African forest elephant population, and by 2013 it was estimated that fewer than 30,000 individuals remained. It is threatened by habitat loss, fragmentation, and poaching. The conservation status of populations varies across range countries. Since 2021, it has been listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List.
From the Wikipedia article “African forest elephant” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=African_forest_elephant&oldid=1380649936), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.
Is the African forest elephant endangered?
The African forest elephant is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List: it faces an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.
- LCLeast Concern
- NTNear Threatened
- VUVulnerable
- ENEndangered
- CRCritically Endangered
- EWExtinct in the Wild
- EXExtinct
Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Critically Endangered species. What the categories mean.
How is the African forest elephant classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classMammalia
- orderProboscidea
- familyElephantidae
- genusLoxodonta
- SpeciesLoxodonta cyclotis (Matschie, 1900)
Synonyms Elephas cyclotis, Loxodonta africana cyclotis
Other names and names in other languages (49)
- African pygmy elephantEnglish
- Forest elephantEnglish
- Forest elephantEnglish
- Semliki elephantEnglish
- WoudolifantAfrikaans
- فيل الغابات الأفريقيArabic
- Elefant africano de selvaAragonese
- Лясны афрыканскі слонBelarusian
- Африкански горски слонBulgarian
- Olifant koadoù AfrikaBreton
- Elefant africà de boscCatalan
- Slon pralesníCzech
- Afrikansk skovelefantDanish
- WaldelefantGerman
- Afrikanischer WaldelefantGerman
- Αφρικανικός ελέφαντας του δάσουςGreek
- Elefante de BosqueSpanish
- Elefante africano de bosqueSpanish
- Elefante de selva africanoSpanish
- Aafrika metsaelevantEstonian
- Basoko elefanteBasque
- MetsänorsuFinnish
- Éléphant de forêtFrench
- Éléphant de forêt d'AfriqueFrench
- פיל יער אפריקניHebrew
- Afrički šumski slonCroatian
- erdei elefántHungarian
- Gajah hutan afrikaIndonesian
- Elefante africano di forestaItalian
- Elefante africano delle foresteItalian
- マルミミゾウJapanese
- 둥근귀코끼리Korean
- Afrikanesche Bëscher ElefantLuxembourgish
- Afrikinis miškinis dramblysLithuanian
- Африкански шума слонMacedonian
- SkogselefantNorwegian Bokmål
- Afrikaanse BosolifantDutch
- Elefant del bòsc d'AfricaOccitan
- Słoń leśnyPolish
- Elefante-africano-de-florestaPortuguese
- Лесной слонRussian
- Elefant afrikan i pyjorAlbanian
- Afrikansk skogselefantSwedish
- ช้างป่าแอฟริกาThai
- Afrika Orman FiliTurkish
- Лісовий слонUkrainian
- Слон лісовийUkrainian
- 圓耳象Chinese
- 非洲森林象Chinese
Relatives of the African forest elephant
Other species in the same genus Loxodonta.
African bush elephant
Loxodonta africana
Common questions
Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.
What kind of animal is the African forest elephant?
The African forest elephant is a mammal in the family Elephantidae, order Proboscidea, and genus Loxodonta.
How heavy is the African forest elephant?
An adult African forest elephant has a body mass of 4.75 tonnes, which places it in the giant size class (adult body mass over 250 kg).
What does the African forest elephant eat?
The African forest elephant is a herbivore.
Is the African forest elephant endangered?
Yes. The IUCN Red List classifies it as Critically Endangered (CR), which is an IUCN threatened category.
How long does the African forest elephant live?
The African forest elephant has a lifespan of 65 years, and the highest value reported by sources is 80 years.
How many young does the African forest elephant have?
The African forest elephant has 1 young per litter, with 0.21 litters per year and a gestation period of 669.7 days (1.8 years).
When does the African forest elephant reach sexual maturity?
The African forest elephant reaches sexual maturity at 10.8 years, with reported values from 10.0 to 11.6 years.
Who named the African forest elephant?
The scientific name Loxodonta cyclotis is credited to (Matschie, 1900).
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.
- An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1 - Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf - Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence). - EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1 - Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service). - Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).
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CreatureData. (2026). African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/african-forest-elephant
“African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/african-forest-elephant.
@misc{african_forest_elephant_2026,
title = {African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/african-forest-elephant},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}