Males reach sexual maturity at around 15 years of age and females at 14 years. Like all very large animals, elephants take a long time to produce their young. A female cannot breed until she is 14 years old and the pregnancy lasts for 2 years. Because of this, they cannot breed quickly enough to replace all the elephants that are being killed. There is no distinct mating season for elephants, and the elephant pregnancy is the longest of any known mammal.

A female┐s oestrous cycle lasts for between 12 and 16 weeks and the fertile period lasts 2-6 days. The females are mated by visiting bulls, who pursue the female until she is ready. A short trunk and body interaction may take place before the male mounts the female standing on his hind legs and resting his forelegs on the female┐s back. This lasts about 60 seconds and at the end they separate but often stay near each other for a short period. The female has the potential to give birth to 7 or 8 offspring in her lifetime, but this rarely occurs.

Number of Young

One single calf.

Gestation

20-22 months.

Birth

The calf weighs 77-136 kilograms and is around 90 centimetres tall at birth. The young are hairy compared with the adult elephants but the hair reduces with age. The calf can walk two days after the birth. The female┐s nipples are in the chest region and the calf suckles for about 3 years, consuming around 11 litres of milk a day. The mother may suckle her young for five years but it begins eating vegetation much earlier than this.

The trunk does not develop its normal shape or function until the calf is 3-4 months old, which means that suckling is easier in the early months. The young calf begins practising using its trunk, mimicking older elephants. Tending to the calves is communal with the whole herd caretaking and protecting the babies. Aunts, sisters and cousins act as nannies, assisting the mother with her young.

Weaning is a very gradual process and often the mother gives birth to an infant while she is still weaning another. At five years the young elephant weighs nearly a tonne and can forage for its own vegetation. Young males leave the mother earlier than females.