As the largest living mammal on land, elephants are not indestructible in their natural state, and scientists believe that there are many animals that can kill elephants. The elephant’s number one enemy is lion, followed by tiger, crocodile, rhinoceros, hyena and viper.

Their hunting techniques are completely different. Lions are social animals, once they identify and decide to attack an elephant, send four or five lionesses to get success rate is high depending on the number; Tigers and rhinos tend to live alone and thus outcompete elephants on their own ability. Crocodiles use the aquatic environment to sneak up on the elephant’s trunk, and death roll to break through the elephant’s defenses, while vipers are more simple, they don’t eat elephants, but they use their venom to protect themselves.

Let’s take a look at six animals that can kill elephants

Lion or Lioness

Scientists observed a water supply point for four years. Elephants often came here to drink, and lion groups sometimes lurked nearby, trying to hunt elephants. In four years of observation and recording, the scientists recorded a total of 74 elephants being killed by lions, of which all but one adult male elephant was killed by lions because of injuries, and the rest were females and juveniles. This tells us at least three things: It is not uncommon for lions to prey on elephants; lions almost never prey on adult males; and juvenile individuals are the main prey for lions.

Lions are mainly found in the African savannah and India. They are large, hunt cooperatively, and are the only species of cat that live in groups. The lion has a clear division of labor. The female lion’s job is to breed and find food, and the male lion’s job is to protect the whole pride. Lions eat a lot and are lethargic. Natural enemies include larger animals like hyenas and rhinos. Lions feed on a wide range of animals, mainly baboons, hippos, zebras, impala and other types of antelope.

Tiger

Recently, a tiger preyed on an elephant in a forest in the Indian state of Orissa. The elephant killed by the tiger was a young Asian elephant. According to animal experts, being opportunistic, tigers hunt elephants mainly for their size. If the elephant is large, blind attacks will only increase the probability of their own injury, which is not conducive to their survival. The juvenile elephant may have been killed by a tiger after accidentally straying from the herd.

The tiger is the largest existing cat species, currently identified a total of 9 subspecies, there are 6 subspecies, which has intersection with elephants only Bengal tiger, although the tiger subspecies is not as large as the Siberian tiger, but also belongs to the larger subspecies. Tiger is a kind of solitary beast, good at ambush, they rely on their own strong explosive force, can prey larger than their own prey, which is relatively rare in carnivores. Lions and wolves can also hunt larger prey, but they rely on concerted fighting.

Crocodile

Elephants have no competition as “heavyweight players” on land, but when they come to the river to drink, the water overlord “crocodile” is a big threat. Elephants like to use their long trunks to suck up river water and pour it over themselves. Suddenly, the trunk was pulled out of the river, and a fierce crocodylus niloticus was clenching on it.

The crocodile is a top opportunistic predator and an ambush predator, often lying underwater for hours, days, or even weeks, waiting for a suitable opportunity to attack, and then attacking with such speed that even the most agile prey cannot escape. Once bitten, the crocodile has one of the most powerful bite forces, up to 22,000 n (5,000 pounds), about five times that of a tiger, and dozens of sharp teeth embedded in the flesh of its prey, which is generally difficult to free unless the crocodile itself lets go.

Rhinoceros

Rhinos can be said to be the largest animal on land besides elephants, and the two animals are herbivores, and their habits are very similar, so they often fight for territory, and there have been cases of rhinos fighting elephants in history. We all know that wild elephants are very grumpy, but in fact, the rhino temper is worse than the elephant, what is worse is that once the rhino is angry, it will ignore it, and it will only try to accelerate forward with the sharp horns of the head, and many elephants are killed.

Rhinos are found in Asia, such as India in South Asia, where they inhabit tropical and subtropical savannas and dense forests. Rhinos often come out in the early morning, evening or night to feed, poor vision, smell and hearing sensitive. It is a timid and harmless animal, but will blindly rush towards the enemy when injured or in trouble.

Hyena

Hyenas like to hunt at night, and the big hyenas of the African grasslands catch food such as wildebeest, zebra, antelope, and even adult elephants. Spotted hyenas like to kill newborn elephant, biting their abdomens in succession. In less than 10 minutes, they can chew off a small piece of the newborn elephant and start eating it alive! On 19 October 1999, a tribe of nine spotted hyenas killed a newborn elephant in Hwange Park, only a few days old. This isn’t a lone calf. There are 25 adult elephants nearby, and despite their anxiety, the elephants form a circle and a half, but they don’t succeed in driving the spotted hyenas away.

According to biologists discovery, African big hyenas live in groups, a group of dozens of small to a dozen, and African big hyenas in the premise of group life, there is considerable freedom, in order to be able to often go alone, hunt alone, eat on their own. The hyena’s unique anal cutting technique is even more frightening to Africa’s large herbivores (elephant, rhinoceros, hippo, etc.).

Viper

The vipers here include the black mamba, African adder, African tree snake, cobra and so on. These snakes may swim in elephant-infested grass, on the Gobi or where they drink. Once the elephant has disturbed them, the snake bites through the elephant’s flesh, and the venom enters the elephant’s body, and the poison dies. Of course, poisonous snakes don’t eat elephants, they just naturally use their venom to protect themselves.

QUESTION: Very interesting animals. You’ve made all these animals that can kill elephants, right? Snakes are so small, how do you make them?

ANSWER: Yes, we have manufactured all life size animatronic animals who could “kill elephant”. Using smaller pieces of steel and batteries to manufacture animatronic snake model. (see video below)

Animatronic Cobra Video:

Manufactured animal models who could “kill elephant”