Why Elephants Have the Longest Pregnancies on Earth

Elephants are among the smartest, largest animals on the planet. With all that size and brain power, it should come as no surprise that making a baby elephant is no easy task. In fact, elephants have so much developing to do in the womb that they actually have the longest pregnancies of any creature on Earth.

Let’s take a look at just how long an elephant’s gestation period is and learn a little more about elephants themselves along the way.

Elephant Background

There are two extant species of elephants: the African savanna elephant and the Asian elephant. The African elephant is the largest land mammal on Earth; the Asian elephant is slightly smaller. Both elephant gestation periods are extremely long, but the African elephant actually has the longest gestation of any animal in the world. Scientists worked for years to figure out why elephants stay pregnant for so long and how. 

How Long is an Elephant Pregnancy?

Elephants have the longest gestation of any creature on the planet. Asian elephant gestation periods last anywhere from 18-22 months, while African elephant gestations last a full 22 months. That’s only two months shy of a two-year pregnancy! Female elephants begin ovulating between 10-12 years old, while bulls don’t become sexually mature until around 14 or 15. Often, young bulls do not get the chance to mate until they’re much older and have moved up in the complex social hierarchy.

Why Are Elephants Pregnant for So Long?

In general, the bigger the animal, the longer the pregnancy. But why? Larger animals need more time to grow, and since they’re so large, they also tend to live long lives, which longer pregnancies coincide with. But that’s not all there is to elephant gestation.

Scientists have found that one of the biggest reasons elephants are pregnant for so long is their big brains. Elephants are born with all the brain cells they’ll ever need- 250 billion of them, to be exact. It takes a lot of development and time to grow those big brains.

Elephant Gestation and Conservation

Elephants are some of the most magnificent and endangered creatures on our planet. Their huge bodies and big brains make them especially vulnerable to one thing: extinction. If a herd of elephants disappears, it takes a very long time to replace them.

A single elephant’s gestation lasts nearly two years. After that, calves stay with their mothers for up to ten years, which means the mom only has one calf every 4-5 years. Elephants are slow to reproduce and take their time growing up, which makes them especially vulnerable to extinction. 

Can Elephants Have Twins?

Twinning, or, having two babies per pregnancy, is extremely rare in elephants. Elephant gestations result in twins about 1% of the time. Unfortunately, even when both calves survive birth, both almost never make it to adulthood.

The reason for this is simple: baby elephants take a tremendous amount of nourishment to thrive and grow. Mother elephants simply can’t make enough milk to feed two hungry calves. In recent years, some twins have been rescued by elephant rescue organizations, who raise them and rerelease them into semi-wild conditions when they’re old enough.