---
title: "Forest Elephant"
description: "Loxodonta cyclotis — Mammals. The African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) is an elephant species native to humid tropical forests in West Africa and the Congo Basin."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/forest-elephant
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Forest Elephant

> Loxodonta cyclotis — Mammals. The African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) is an elephant species native to humid tropical forests in West Africa and the Congo Basin.

- Scientific name: *Loxodonta cyclotis*
- Category: `mammals` (Mammals)
- Habitats: `forest` (Forest), `jungle` (Jungle)
- iNaturalist observations: 985
- Wikidata: [Q189514](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q189514)
- iNaturalist taxon: [357910](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/357910)

## Names

- en: Forest Elephant
- de: Waldelefant
- es: Elefante africano de bosque
- fr: Éléphant de Forêt
- nl: Bosolifant
- pt: Elefante-da-floresta
- pl: Słoń leśny

## Countries with the most observations

GA (388), CF (218), CG (155), GH (71), UG (18), CD (14), CM (13), CI (10), GW (7), BJ (6), NG (6), BF (5)

## Summary

The African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) is an elephant species native to humid tropical forests in West Africa and the Congo Basin. It was first described in 1900. With an average shoulder height of 2.16 m (7 ft 1 in), it is the smallest of the three extant elephant species. Both sexes have straight, down-pointing tusks, which begin to grow at the age of 1–3 years.
The African forest elephant lives in highly sociable family groups of up to 20 individuals comprising adult cows, their daughters and sons. When young bulls reach sexual maturity, they separate from the family group and form loose bachelor groups…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_forest_elephant

## Photo

![Forest Elephant](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/forest-elephant/medium.jpg)

Photo: Jean-Paul Boerekamps · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/68149963

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/forest-elephant?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).