The average African forest elephant consumes over 300 pounds of leaves, bushes, and grasses every day.
Of that, about 45 percent is fully utilized by the elephant, leaving about 165 pounds of excrement to be dumped on the ground.
Now, that’s a lot of poop, but luckily for us it’s really good poop.
Thanks to the elephant diet of plants and fruit, the elephant’s waste contains lots of seeds that, with the nutrient-rich excrement, germinate well in the African forests.
Unfortunately, a decrease in the forest elephant population has resulted in a lack of poop, causing a huge ecological difference.
The elephant waste is responsible for a great deal of forest growth, and with less and less of it each year, the forest, and the animals that live there have taken a big hit.
Yet another reason to work harder at protecting this animal.
