How much does an elephant weigh? Males, females, calves and the record bull

At the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, DC, a keeper opens a gate, and a male Asian elephant called Spike walks into a narrow chute. Hidden in its floor is a steel scale 3 m (10 ft) long. Spike sometimes prefers to back onto it. He weighs approximately 13,000 lb (5,900 kg), and he is not even the heaviest kind of elephant.

An adult male African savanna elephant weighs about 6,000 kg (13,000 lb) on average, and a female about 2,800 kg (6,100 lb). Asian elephants are lighter: about 3,600 kg (7,900 lb) for males and 2,700 kg (6,000 lb) for females, says the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Library. A newborn calf weighs about 90 to 120 kg. Below: every species, the record bull, and how you weigh a giant.

In this article:

• How much does an elephant weigh, by species?
• How much does an African elephant weigh?
• How much does an Asian elephant weigh?
• How much does a baby elephant weigh?
• What is the heaviest elephant ever recorded?
• How do you weigh an elephant?
• How much does an elephant eat in a day?
• Why does an elephant’s weight matter to other animals?
• Myths
• Test yourself
• FAQ
• Sources

How much does an elephant weigh, by species?

It depends on the species and the sex. Male African savanna elephants average about 6,000 kg (13,000 lb), females about 2,800 kg (6,100 lb). Asian males average about 3,600 kg (7,900 lb) and females 2,700 kg (6,000 lb). African forest elephants are the least known, at 2,700–6,000 kg (6,000–13,000 lb).

How much elephants weigh

Elephant	Adult males	Adult females	Newborn calf
African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana)	About 6,000 kg (13,000 lb) on average	About 2,800 kg (6,100 lb) on average	About 90–120 kg (200–270 lb)
African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis)	2,700–6,000 kg (6,000–13,000 lb) for the species; poorly known		Not published in our sources
Asian elephant (Elephas maximus)	About 3,600 kg (7,900 lb) on average, up to 6,000 kg (13,000 lb)	About 2,700 kg (6,000 lb) on average, up to 4,200 kg (9,000 lb)	About 110 kg (240 lb) on average; range 50–150 kg (110–330 lb)

Sources: San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Library fact sheets for the African and Asian elephant (adult weights), and the same library’s reproduction pages (calves). For telling the three species apart, see African vs Asian elephant.

How much does an African elephant weigh?

A male African savanna elephant averages about 6,000 kg (13,000 lb), and a female about 2,800 kg (6,100 lb). National Geographic gives a range of 2.5 to 7 tons for African elephants. Asier Larramendi (2016) calculated that a bull 3.2 m (10.5 ft) tall at the shoulder, in good condition, weighs about 6,000 kg.

Females stay much smaller. Wild females rarely top 3 tonnes, Larramendi notes. Bulls keep putting on weight for decades: in African elephants over 30, weight goes on rising much faster than height, he writes, citing earlier field studies.

The African forest elephant is smaller, and its weight is poorly known. The San Diego Zoo library gives 2,700–6,000 kg for the species but warns the figures are “not as well known” as for the other two.

How much does an Asian elephant weigh?

An adult male Asian elephant averages about 3,600 kg (7,900 lb) and can reach 6,000 kg (13,000 lb). Females average about 2,700 kg (6,000 lb), up to 4,200 kg (9,000 lb). The Smithsonian’s National Zoo gives a range of 2,750 to 5,420 kg (6,000 to 12,000 lb) for adults.

Size also depends on where they live. Most measurements come from elephants in India, which are larger than Asian elephants farther east, and elephants on Borneo are “considerably smaller,” says the San Diego Zoo library. Males also keep gaining weight past the age of 50.

Zoo elephants can be heavier than wild ones. Larramendi found that many published Asian elephant weights came from zoo and circus animals that were “clearly obese,” some 60–85% heavier than healthy elephants of the same height. A wild bull of average height (2.75 m) in good condition weighs about 4,000 kg, he calculates.

How much does a baby elephant weigh?

A newborn African savanna calf weighs about 90 to 120 kg (200 to 270 lb), says the San Diego Zoo library. An Asian calf averages about 110 kg (240 lb), with a range of 50 to 150 kg. That is about as heavy as an average American man, who weighs 90.3 kg (199 lb), according to the CDC.

To see how long a calf grows before it is born, read how long an elephant is pregnant for. After birth, Asian calves grow fastest in their first two years and reach about 70% of adult height by weaning. African savanna calves drink only milk for their first three months.

What is the heaviest elephant ever recorded?

The heaviest on record is an African savanna bull shot at Mucusso, Angola, on 7 November 1974. Guinness World Records says its weight was “computed to be 12.24 tonnes” (26,984 lb), with a shoulder height of about 3.96 m (13 ft). Larramendi’s newer method puts the same bull at about 10.4 tonnes. It was never weighed.

The elephant most websites mean, though, is a different Angolan giant: the one now standing in the rotunda of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. Josef Fénykövi shot it in the Cuando River region of south-eastern Angola on 13 November 1955, according to the Smithsonian Institution Archives. When it was unveiled in 1959, it was the largest land mammal on display in any museum. The mount stands 13 ft 2 in (4.01 m) at the shoulder.

So how heavy was it? The museum calls it “our 11-ton African elephant” without saying how that figure was reached. Popular sites say 24,000 lb (10.9 tonnes). That matches an estimate of 10.9 tonnes published by the animal-records author Gerald Wood in 1982, which assumed a standing shoulder height of about 3.81 m, Larramendi reports. Larramendi re-examined the specimen using published measurements of its leg bones and estimated about 3.5 m (11.5 ft) at the shoulder and about 7.5 tonnes (16,500 lb).

The honest answer: no record-sized wild elephant has been put on a scale. The 1974 Mucusso bull is the best-documented giant, and “up to about 10 to 12 tonnes” is a fair summary of the very biggest bulls. Larramendi also argues that unusually tall bulls tend to have longer legs and slimmer bodies, so simply scaling up average elephants overestimates them.

How do you weigh an elephant?

In zoos, elephants are trained to walk onto a giant scale. At the National Zoo, the scale is 3 m long and 1.5 m wide (10 ft by 5 ft), “made of steel plates and girders” and built into the floor of a chute, the zoo explains.

“We ask him to stand on a scale (politely) and reward him with his favorite food,” says keeper Debbie Flinkman.

Wild elephants are weighed with maths instead. Shoulder height is closely linked to body weight, so researchers measure height and convert it, explains Larramendi. They can even estimate height from a footprint: a front foot’s circumference doubled gives roughly the shoulder height of an Asian elephant, and for mature African elephants you add 10%, according to the records expert Gerald Wood, as reported by Larramendi.

Try it: the footprint trick (tap to see the worked example)

The 1974 Angolan record bull had a front-foot circumference of 180 cm. Double it: 360 cm. Add 10% for a mature African bull: 360 + 36 = 396 cm, or about 3.96 m (13 ft) at the shoulder. That matches the height worked out from its body lying on its side. Researchers then turn height into weight using equations from elephants of known size. Measure round your own foot at its widest point and double it: the answer is nowhere near your height, which shows how unusual an elephant’s shape is.

How much does an elephant eat in a day?

A wild Asian elephant eats about 74 to 150 kg (165 to 330 lb) of food a day and drinks about 189 litres (50 gallons) of water, says the Smithsonian’s National Zoo. Elephants digest only about 44% of what they eat, so they need a lot. The top of that range weighs as much as 1.7 average American men.

African savanna elephants eat about 1 to 2% of their body weight each day, measured as dry plant matter, the San Diego Zoo library says. That is 40 to 80 kg (90 to 180 lb) of dry food, plus 150 to 200 litres (40 to 50 gallons) of water. At the National Zoo, a typical day’s diet for an adult female totals about 61 kg (135 lb), mostly hay.

Why does an elephant’s weight matter to other animals?

Because a body this big reshapes the land around it. African elephants are keystone species, or “ecosystem engineers,” says National Geographic. In the dry season they use their tusks to dig water holes in dry riverbeds, and many other animals drink from them.

Their dung spreads seeds and feeds dung beetles, and on the savanna they uproot trees and eat saplings, keeping the plains open for zebras and other grazers.

All three species are now threatened. The IUCN listed the African savanna elephant as Endangered and the African forest elephant as Critically Endangered in 2021, after steep falls caused by ivory poaching and habitat loss, says the IUCN. The Asian elephant is Endangered (IUCN 2020 assessment), with 37,000 to 57,000 left, says the Smithsonian. Read why Asian elephants are endangered.

Myths about elephant weight

Myth: The heaviest elephant ever weighed exactly 24,000 lb.

Fact: That figure is an estimate for the Smithsonian’s Fénykövi elephant. Its leg bones suggest about 7.5 tonnes (16,500 lb), says Larramendi, and the best-documented record bull, shot in 1974, was calculated rather than weighed. Why people believe it: an old estimate was copied from book to website as if it were a measurement. More examples in zombie statistics traced to their source.

Myth: Zoo elephants show how heavy wild elephants are.

Fact: Many published Asian elephant weights came from zoo and circus animals that were “clearly obese,” up to 60–85% heavier than healthy elephants of the same height (Larramendi 2016). Why people believe it: zoo elephants are the only ones that are easy to weigh.

Test yourself

1. About how much does an average male African savanna elephant weigh?

About 6,000 kg (13,000 lb), roughly the weight of three average new cars.

2. How do scientists estimate the shoulder height of a wild elephant from its footprint?

They double the circumference of the front foot, and add 10% for mature African elephants.

3. Was the record Angolan bull of 1974 put on a scale?

No. Its weight of about 10 to 12 tonnes was calculated from its measurements.

An elephant’s weight is more than a number for a record book. Every kilogram has to be fed, cooled and carried, and all of it shapes the land: the water holes, the open plains and the seeds in the dung. Weigh an elephant, and in a way you are weighing a whole ecosystem.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Library. African elephants fact sheet: physical characteristics; reproduction; diet.
2. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Library. Asian elephant fact sheet: physical characteristics; reproduction.
3. Smithsonian’s National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute. Asian elephant.
4. Smithsonian’s National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute (2021). How do you weigh animals at the zoo?
5. Larramendi, A. (2016). Shoulder height, body mass, and shape of proboscideans. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 61(3): 537-574.
6. Guinness World Records. Largest mammal on land.
7. Smithsonian Institution Archives. Fénykövi donates African bush elephant to SI; Collections in context; Hunting for elephants in the archives.
8. Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Meet Henry.
9. National Geographic. African elephant.
10. IUCN (2021). African elephant species now Endangered and Critically Endangered: IUCN Red List.
11. Williams, C. et al. (2020). Elephas maximus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2020: e.T7140A45818198.
12. US Environmental Protection Agency (2026). The 2025 EPA Automotive Trends Report: executive summary.
13. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, NCHS. Body measurements.
14. Garland, T. (1983). The relation between maximal running speed and body mass in terrestrial mammals. Journal of Zoology 199: 157-170.
15. University of Colorado Boulder (2003). Can elephants really run? Yes and no, say researchers.

Sources checked 14 October 2026.