Elephants: Proboscidea - Habitat

Elephants live only in tropical and subtropical regions, but they occupy a wide range of habitats, including savannas (a mixture of grassland and woodland), rainforests, mountains, semi-deserts, and deciduous (trees that lose their leaves every year) forests. Elephants eat a wide variety of plants, so it is important that they live in an area that provides this essential diversity. Water is another requirement. They must live within a day's walking distance of water in order to survive. Also of great importance is that the elephant has room to move about freely without coming into contact with humans.

Elephants have been known to change wooded area into open grassland by destroying trees.