Elephants are plant eaters, or herbivores. Adult elephants eat about 300 pounds of food a day. It takes a long time to find and eat 300 pounds of food -
they spend 16 to 20 hours a day eating!
They eat leaves, roots, grasses and bark. They love fruit - especially dates, plums, berries and coconuts. What they eat depends on their habitat and what is available to them.
Elephants use their trunks to get fruit and leaves from trees. If the food is out of reach, they will pull the tree out of the ground or ram the tree to knock it down. They use their tusks and trunks to pull the bark off trees. They use their feet and tusks to dig stems and roots from the ground.
Elephants usually drink water only once or twice a day. They can go up to three days without water if they have to. When water is available, adult elephants will drink up to 50 gallons a day.
