Females and young males live in cohesive herds of about ten related adults and their offspring. The matriarch, usually the oldest and largest female, sets the pace of the group's activities. Males leave herds at puberty, around their 13 th year, and travel alone or in bachelor groups. Elephants travel widely in search of food. Movements vary depending upon food availability.
African elephants communicate with rumbles, growls, bellows, and moans.
Some of these varied, low-frequency sounds may travel a mile or more. Over the past 150 years, ivory hunters have ruthlessly hunted them for their tusks. Between 1979 and 1989, Africa's elephant population plummeted from 1,300,000 animals to 750,000, due mostly to ivory hunting. Since the 1980s, an international ban on trade in ivory has helped many populations hold steady or rebound. However, African elephants have lost much of their habitat to ranches, farms, and desertification.