They range throughout central and southern Africa.
In Southern Africa, the wet season, which is the summer, goes from November to March. At this time, it’s warm and wet, and there’s lots of vegetation. In this time, elephants eat just about everything that’s green, and water is plentiful. However, in the winter, which is the dry season (from April to October), the rains eventually stop, and green growth slows. By the end of the dry season, everything is bone dry and elephants have to walk long distances for water and food. They use their ears to control their body temperatures, their strong legs to walk long distances, their tusks and trunks to dig for water, and their strong digestive system to consume massive quantities of whatever plants they can find. They can even eat bark from trees, tough thorns and rough leaves.
People are really the only thing that can harm elephants. People can poach them, drive them out of their habitat, or hurt them more subtly through climate change and invasive species. Throughout some of their range, these elephants are in danger and might be extinct. However, in Kruger National Park, they are protected and their population is still on the rise.
