African forest elephant

The African forest elephant, Loxodonta cyclotis, is an elephant species native to the humid tropical forests of West Africa and the Congo Basin, first described by Paul Matschie in 1900. With an average shoulder height of about 2.16 metres it is the smallest of the three living elephant species, and both sexes have straight, down-pointing tusks. It lives in sociable family groups of up to 20 individuals made up of adult cows and their daughters and sons, while adult bulls mostly live alone. It forages on leaves, seeds, fruit and bark of at least 96 plant species and spreads partly digested seeds over distances of at least 5 kilometres, which helps maintain the diversity and structure of the Guinean and Congolese forests. Overhunting, habitat loss and poaching have cut its numbers sharply, and it has been listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List since 2021. DNA studies show that it diverged from the African bush elephant at least 1.9 million years ago.