Elephants must consume huge amounts of food each day because half of it passes through virtually undigested. This means that both species must move about constantly in search of food, and both are finding less and less space open to them. Both species of elephant are herd animals living in very definite social structure. Herds are led by a matriarch , usually the oldest female, and are made up of her daughters, sisters, and their offspring. Once they reach puberty, male calves leave the mother's herd and join other young males in bachelor groups.
Older males tend to be solitary.
Finally, both Asian and African elephants are highly intelligent and peaceful animals whose continued existence is threatened. Dumbo may have a new cousin. Researchers analyzing genes of African elephants found that the forest and grassland groups are different enough to be considered separate species, which means that three distinct species of elephants exist in the world. Science has long recognized the clear differences between the African and Asian elephants. The African elephant genetic samples were collected over eight years using darts fired into animals in 21 different groups.