How long is an elephant pregnancy last

If there is an animal that takes motherhood seriously, it is an elephant. These animals are great mothers because of their maternal instincts. Not all species invest their time and energy raising their offspring. Elephants take all the time they need to ensure their calves survive.

One way our African elephant research unit is helping save elephants is by researching elephants’ reproduction, biology and providing care services to help improve the lives of elephants everywhere. Check out our answers to some commonly asked questions, like how long does an elephant pregnancy last and why it is important to understand an elephant’s pregnancy. 

How long does an elephant pregnancy last?

An elephant’s pregnancy lasts on average for 22 months or 680 days. They have the longest gestation period of any living mammal. Other animals that make the list of animals with long gestation periods include sperm whales, black horn rhinos and giraffes.

However, it is essential to note that the duration of pregnancy also depends on the kind of elephant. African savannah elephants and African forest elephants have a gestation period of 22 months, whereas Asian elephants have a slightly shorter gestation period of 21.5 and 22 months.

Why do elephants have long pregnancies? 

Scientists hypothesize that elephants have longer gestation periods because of their size and intelligence. Elephants are the largest land mammal. So they spend more time in the womb growing to an ideal size that will help them survive. By the time they are born, they are already three feet tall and weigh 264 pounds. 

Elephants are also intelligent and sociable animals. These animals have similar intelligence levels compared to dolphins and apes. Longer gestation periods help them develop a brain that will ensure they learn all the survival skills they need.

How many babies do elephants have?

Just like larger animals, elephants have longer gestation periods and small litters. Elephants typically have one baby at a time. Although it is rare, elephants are capable of having twins. After they have a baby, an elephant will dedicate four to five years to taking care of its offspring. 

The baby elephant's first few years relies heavily on its mother for milk and protection. Elephants do not really have predators, but lions, hyenas, and crocodiles are known to attack calves and weak elephants. 

The importance of understanding an elephant's pregnancy

As of March 2020, African savanna elephants and Asian elephants are endangered, while African forest elephants are critically endangered. These elephants' populations are declining due to a combination of poaching, habitat loss and human-elephant conflict. To add on top of these existing issues, elephants have slow breeding rates causing slow population growth. This problem is even bigger for African forest elephants, who have extremely slow birth rates putting them under greater pressure from poaching. It could take longer for this population to recover from strong declines. 

In zoos, elephants also face reproductive problems. Zoo elephants are facing high-infertility rates. These high rates are causing more elephant death than births. If conditions do not improve, elephants could face captive extinction soon. African elephant research unit teams like For Elephants are working alongside zoos to provide specialized reproduction services. Our team provides expertise in endocrine (hormones) to increase the elephant reproduction rate and improve the welfare of elephants in zoos.

How to support our African elephant research unit

One of the best ways to help wild and zoo elephants is by joining our Herd of Heroes donation program. This program allows you to make a monthly donation of your choice to help continue our research efforts to improve the lives of elephants worldwide. Join down below, and do not forget to subscribe to our newsletter as well. 

Nothing about elephants is small, and their pregnancies are no exception. Before giving birth to a 110-kilogram calf, mothers carry the fetus for 22 months, the longest gestation period of any mammal. And whereas most mammals have only one corpus luteum—a temporary gland that controls hormone levels during pregnancy—elephants have as many as 11. Now, by giving 17 elephants blood tests and ultrasound scans throughout their pregnancies, researchers have discovered a key to this remarkable form of motherhood.

"The study is exciting, surprising, and very pleasing," says veterinary researcher Twink Allen of the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, who was not involved in the work. "It's a very unusual strategy the elephant seems to have adopted, and it has puzzled people for 30 or 40 years."

In most mammals, one corpus luteum forms from a single egg follicle in the ovary during each menstrual cycle. The temporary gland produces progesterone, which in turn promotes thickening of the endometrium and, if an egg is fertilized, maintains the correct balance of hormones throughout a pregnancy to ensure that a female's body remains geared toward supporting her growing baby. If fertilization doesn't occur, the corpus luteum dies, only to reform during the next reproductive cycle. From dissected animals, scientists have known for more than 50 years that elephant ovaries contain multiple corpora lutea. But they didn't know how these structures formed or what roles they played in elephant pregnancies. And they'd never studied the corpus lutea in real-time during an elephant's life or pregnancy.

"There were all sorts of theories put forth," says Imke Lueders of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin. "Some people thought that elephants accumulated the corpora lutea over many cycles, for example. Nobody could really prove any of the theories because elephants are so hard to study."

Hoping to change this, Lueders developed a method to follow elephant pregnancies using protocols originally designed for horses. She collaborated with researchers and zoos around the world to study 15 female Asian elephants and two female African elephants over a 5-year period. During normal menstrual cycles before pregnancies, as well as throughout the entire course of each female's pregnancy, the scientists took blood samples and performed ultrasounds. They used rectally inserted ultrasound probes on the elephants, which had to be specially trained not to kick and rear up during the uncomfortable exams.

The researchers found that the animals formed, on average, five corpora lutea during each menstrual cycle. And surprisingly, whereas one corpus luteum was derived from an egg-generating follicle, as happens in mammals such as humans, the rest of the structures formed from separate follicles at a different point in the reproductive cycle.

Over the course of each pregnancy, each gland slowly decreased its progesterone production. Having many glands likely helps keep the levels above a threshold for the entire 22 month gestation, the team reports online today in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. The scientists hypothesize that the long gestation period allows for full brain development of elephants, which are born with complex cognitive skills and are immediately able to sense how to survive in their environment and interact with the herd.

"We still don't understand everything," Lueders says. "We'd like to look in more detail at the molecular aspects of this next. What genes are expressed in the ovaries that cause this?" She also wants to study whether the finding holds true in manatees, a close relative of elephants.

The observation explains a curiosity about elephant reproduction, says Allen. But it also could lead to methods for controlling elephant ovulation or timing artificial insemination. Such methods could come in handy when zoos are trying to breed animals—especially those that rarely mate and become pregnant on their own. But they also could help researchers develop elephant birth control for areas plagued by elephant overpopulation, he says.

Elephants are the largest land mammals in the world. There are two species of elephant: the African elephant (Loxodonta africana) and the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus). While the two species live in different places, they have many characteristics in common, including the duration of their pregnancies. But how long are elephants pregnant for? Read this guide to find out!

If you’re wondering, “how long are elephants pregnant?” you’ve likely heard that elephant pregnancies are rather remarkable because of their length. In fact, elephants have one of the longest gestation periods of all living species.

A gestation period is the time during which the fetus develops. It covers the time from the moment of conception until birth. For humans, the normal gestation period is nine months. The elephant gestation period, on the other hand, can last nearly two years (22 months).

Elephant Gestation Period: Quick Facts

An elephant’s pregnancy begins at the moment of conception. Female elephants are fertile three or four times per year. In the wild, male elephants will fight over a potential mate. In captivity, caretakers work to get female elephants pregnant during their fertilization period.

Once a female elephant is pregnant, the elephant gestation period officially begins. Here are some quick facts about elephant pregnancy:

• Elephant pregnancies typically last around 22 months (almost two years!).

• Elephant pregnancies are the longest of all mammals and one of the longest of all living animals.

• One of the reasons elephant pregnancies are so long is because elephants are big. Due to their size, the development of elephants in the womb is slow.

• Elephants are also highly intelligent. The long elephant gestation period allows the baby elephant’s brain to properly develop.

Elephant Pregnancy: Other Facts

Now that we know about an elephant’s gestation period, here are some other fun facts about elephant pregnancy.

• Elephant calves typically weigh between 220 and 330 pounds at birth. No wonder they take so long to develop!

• Elephants are born almost blind. It takes several weeks for their eyes to work properly.

• Female elephants can give birth every four or five years.

Other Animals With Long Pregnancies

Elephants have one of the longest gestation periods of all animals. Here are ten other animals with long gestation periods:

1. Black alpine salamanders: These amphibians live at high altitudes in the Central and Eastern Alps. Their pregnancies can last from two to three years.

2. Sharks: Different species of sharks have different gestation periods. The spiny dogfish shark has a gestation period of two years. The frilled shark has a gestation period of 3.5 years.

3. Tapirs: Closely related to horses and rhinos, tapir calves have a gestation period of up to thirteen months.

4. Donkeys: Female donkeys are known as “Jennys” or “mares.” Their pregnancies can last up to 14 months.

5. Manatees: These underwater mammals can carry their young for up to thirteen months.

6. Camels: Camels don’t just carry water for a long time. Their typical gestation period is fourteen months.

7. Giraffes: The tallest land animal in the world has a gestation period between 13 and 15 months (or 400 to 460 days).

8. Velvet worm: This strange creature is neither made of velvet nor an actual worm: they are close relatives of spiders. Velvet worms carry their young for up to fifteen months.

9. Rhinos: Perhaps unsurprisingly due to their size, rhinos have a long gestation period: typically around 15 months.

10. Walruses: Walruses typically carry their young for as long as fifteen or sixteen months.

Elephant Pregnancy: Final Thoughts

Elephants have one of the longest gestation periods of any living species. Elephant gestation periods are typically 22 months long.

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