The elephant - Loxodonta africana - is the largest land animal. Elephants live in matriarchal group, males are often solitary except during breeding. They are herbivores. The African elephant population declined sharply because of poaching and habitat loss. Although the same species, we distinguish different kinds of elephants adapted to their specific environment: the savanna elephant is the most common, the desert elephant in Namibia, and forest elephant in DRC.