The African pygmy elephant only grows to about 7 feet tall. People sometimes confuse the African Elephant, pictured above, and the Asian Elephant pictured to the right. One quick way to tell the difference is to look at the ears. The African elephant has larger ears than the Asian elephant. Another noticeable difference is that the Asian elephant has a longer head with a dome on top.
Elephant babies have unusually long gestation periods.
Compare that to human babies who live in mother's womb for 9 months. Elephants have been known to live in captivity for up to 70 years. It is speculated that they can live even longer in the wild. The life span of many wild elephants is cut short by poachers. Poachers are people who kill elephants so that they can take their tusks and sell them.