Elephant

Elephantidae (the elephants) is a family of animals, the only family in the order Proboscidea that still exists today. Elephantidae has three living species: the Savannah Elephant and Forest Elephant (which were collectively known as the African Elephant) and the Asian Elephant (formerly known as the Indian Elephant). During the last ice age there were more species, which are now extinct.

Usefulness to the environment

Elephants' foraging activities help to maintain the areas in which they live:

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• By pulling down trees to eat leaves, breaking branches, and pulling out roots they create clearings in which new young trees and other vegetation grow to provide future nutrition for elephants and other organisms.
• Elephants make pathways through the environment that are used by other animals to access areas normally out of reach. The pathways have been used by several generations of elephants, and today people are converting many of them to paved roads.
• During the dry season elephants use their tusks to dig into dry river beds to reach underground sources of water. These newly dug water holes may become the only source of water in the area.
• Elephants are a species upon which many other organisms depend. For example, termites eat elephant feces and often begin construction of termite mounds under piles of feces.