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You are here: Home / Animals / What Do Elephants Eat and Why Do Elephants Like to Eat Peanuts?

What Do Elephants Eat and Why Do Elephants Like to Eat Peanuts?

May 17, 2020 by Karen Hill

It’s not true that elephants love to eat peanuts.

elephants do not eat peanuts

Spending most of the day eating the leaves, bark, and fruits of trees and shrubs, Elephants are herbivores, and they may also eat grasses and herbs.

Digesting about half of what they eat, Elephants are browsers in the wild, and are known to love pumpkins and watermelons in captivity.

Elephants also seem to like best sweet stuff of any kind, when they can get it.

Unfortunately, elephants are susceptible to tooth decay, so it’s a good thing they don’t have many sugar-saturated foods to choose from in the wild.

Even without excessive sugar in their diets, elephants suffer from natural tooth loss in old age, which often leaves aged elephants unable to eat, resulting in starvation.

This natural tooth loss problem has made it crucial for many zoos around the world to crack down on visitors feeding elephants, and to make sure the animals get a good, balanced diet.

But if an animal does lose its teeth, it isn’t the end of the world, keepers simply change its diet to soft foods, just like what grandma eats.

The King of the Obese never leases.

Related Facts

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  • Why Should my Child Believe in the Tooth Fairy?
  • Where Does Corn Syrup Come From and How Is Corn Syrup Made?
  • How Can I Soften Brown Sugar That Has Hardened and Turned Into Rock?

Filed Under: Animals

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

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