Elephants near Mount Kilimanjaro, Amboseli National Park, Kenya
© Diana Robinson Photography/Getty Image
Trunks packed for road. Mount Kilimanjaro
Mount Kilimanjaro, known as the Great White Mountain to local tribes, stands sentinel as these African bush elephants cross the vast savannahs of Amboseli National Park in Kenya. The elephant species is the largest land mammal in the world and the largest of the three elephant species. Adults reach up to 24 feet in length and 13 feet in height and weigh up to 11 tons. As herbivores, they spend much of their days foraging and eating grass, leaves, bark, fruit, and a variety of foliage. They need to eat about 350 pounds of vegetation every day.
Habitat loss and poaching for ivory have decimated the populations of the bush elephant and its cousin the forest elephant, which roams the nearby foothills of Kilimanjaro. Today, we are recognising our planet's fragile ecosystem and the daily impact humans have on biodiversity. It's up to all of us to help these elephants keep roaming.
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