Elephants May Spend Up to 16 Hours a Day Foraging

Wild elephants spend a large part of the day searching for and eating plants. Some estimates say Asian elephants may feed or forage for up to 16 hours a day; field observations of African savanna elephants have also found feeding can take around two-thirds of their time budget. This is not a fixed rule for every elephant: time varies with food availability, season, habitat, and how researchers classify searching versus eating. The illustration is AI-generated.