Male and female elephants only come together to mate.But female elephants live together in families.Families are made up of young elephants and their mothers，aunts，and grandmothers.The oldest female heads the family.Males leave the family when they are about six years old.Adult males live alone or in herds with other males.
An elephant cow (female)is pregnant for 20to 22months.This pregnancy is the longest for any animal.Cows only have one calf (baby elephant)at a time.The other cows in the family help raise the calf.
A calf nurses on its mother’s milk until it is three or four years old.By age ten，a calf can weigh 2，000to 3，000pounds (900to 1，300kilograms).Unlike other mammals，elephants continue to grow slowly throughout life.Elephants can live to be more than 60years old.
Are Elephants Endangered？
象会灭绝吗？
African and Asian elephants are now endangered species.People killed elephants for their ivory tusks.People destroyed the forests and grasslands where elephants lived.In the early 1900s，there were between 5million and 10million elephants living in the wild.By 1979，there were only 1.3million.Another 600，000African elephants were killed for their ivory tusks between 1979and 1989.In 1989，many countries banned ivory sales and took other steps to protect elephants.Despite these steps，only about 400，000to 500，000elephants live in the wild today.
Horses