10 Free Elephant Coloring Pages for Kids and Adults: Printable PDF
Elephant Coloring Pages
What kid doesn’t love talking about and coloring a page of an elephant? Everyone does! And these coloring sheets of elephants and coloring pages of elephants are sure to delight all ages.
Some of the elephant images to color are a bit juvenile, but many of them are suitable elephant coloring pages for adults, too.
Yes, there is a circus elephant coloring page included, but I am personally opposed to using elephants in circuses. Or any animal, for that matter. But I felt it was important to keep it in to engage kids in the age-appropriate conversations about elephants in circuses.
What color are elephants?
The Asian elephant is usually the species that people envision when they hear the word elephant. They are more grey in color.
The African elephants look more tan or brown in color and are larger than the Asian elephants.
It should be noted though that it is the African elephant that has the large floppy ears that we think of with elephants.
Talking about how big elephants are, and how much they weight is a great way to get kids to think about measuring things.
Elephants and Poaching
What do you think about when you see a baby elephant? Do you think about how cute and cuddly they are? Or perhaps you think about how dangerous it is for them to be in the wild, away from their mothers and other family?
What about when you see an old elephant? Do you see them as being wise and calm, or perhaps as being wrinkled and arthritic? What do you see when all of these come together at once? Elephants are some of the most beloved animals on earth, which is why it can be so shocking to learn about their plight.
amzn_assoc_placement = “adunit0”; amzn_assoc_search_bar = “true”; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = “lissbarale-20”; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = “manual”; amzn_assoc_ad_type = “smart”; amzn_assoc_marketplace = “amazon”; amzn_assoc_region = “US”; amzn_assoc_title = “Elephant fun!”; amzn_assoc_linkid = “a44341c5331b8e2483c89ce5fdcce9a4”; amzn_assoc_asins = “B07T428Q49,1797868993,B099F4Q4X6,B004P8R9PC,B09VP7N29S,B015XKG5Q4,B07QJWH65Q,B00GHAGGOG”;There are only about half a million Asian elephants left in the world today, which is down from approximately 20 million just 100 years ago. They are poached for their ivory tusks at an alarming rate, which has led to substantial declines in their population over the last decade.
The demand for ivory has driven this poaching crisis in part, but there’s also more to it than that. The elephant is threatened by a variety of factors that humans have brought upon them.
Some people may disagree with me on this topic; after all, not everyone thinks that we should protect our wildlife at any cost. However, I believe that we must take action if we want to preserve the future of elephants for future generations.
I think it’s important to teach kids that if we want to enjoy these magnificent creatures, we must do our part to protect them.
Facts about Elephants
There are only about 5,000 African elephants left in the world. Elephants have four-chambered hearts, which allows them to cool down their blood and detoxify it by passing air through it.
In Asian and African countries, they are sometimes eaten as a delicacy. Elephants can live to be up to 70 years old in the wild, but in zoos they usually only live to be around 40-50. The largest elephant ever recorded was shot in Zimbabwe in 2012 and weighed some 44 tons.
(source: wikipedia)
How old do elephants get?
The elephant is a large, slow-moving animal that can live to be up to 70 or 80 years old. The average lifespan of an elephant in the wild is around 40 years.
There are many things known about elephants and their life span. Elephants are extremely intelligent creatures that have been known to use tools such as rocks, mud, and sticks; they have even been known to use weapons such as spears, bows and arrows, and guns.
They also engage in cooperative breeding with other elephants. Female elephants have a gestation period of 22 months and give birth to one calf every two years on average. Unlike most mammals, the female doesn’t take care of the baby after it’s born; this responsibility falls on the male or other family members who are willing to help raise it.
Elephants are social animals that live in matriarchal societies where females are the dominant species in the society. Typically females outlive males by 15-30 years due to various factors such as more physical strength throughout life.
The females’ added maternal skills include better hunting abilities and stronger bonds with offspring which helps protect against predators during infancy stages when young elephants are vulnerable for attack from other predators like lions (which is why male elephants hunt).
To reproduce, female Asian elephants reach sexual maturity between 9-16 years old, whereas males reach sexual maturity at 4-7 years old.
Where do elephants live?
The African elephant is the most abundant and wide-spread of the two species, with an estimated 50,000 individuals in Africa. They live primarily in savannas, grasslands, and forests.
Asian elephants are more widely spread compared to their African counterparts and are primarily found in Asia. Asian elephants live primarily in forests and hillsides.
The Asian elephant is smaller than the African elephant and has smaller ears, a shorter trunk, and a rounder head that is shaped like an apple rather than a cone. The Asian elephant has been classified as endangered for over 30 years because of poaching for their ivory tusks and habitat loss.
The African elephant faces similar threats but is not as endangered because they have larger populations that can withstand some losses better.
As pachyderms go, the Asian elephant isn’t particularly large or powerful; they are good runners but not particularly strong walkers or climbers. When it comes to power or weight, the African Elephant reigns supreme over the Asian variety.
Elephant Coloring Pages
Ok, here you go. You can download and print these PDF coloring pages of elephants.
If you need instructions, just scroll past the coloring pages to see the graphic. Or, watch the screencast video in the sidebar.
elephant-coloring-pagesDon’t miss our other fun coloring pages on this site, like penguin coloring pages.
Lisa Lightner is an award-winning and nationally-known Special Education Advocate and Lobbyist who lives in suburban Philadelphia. She has or is serving on the Boards of numerous disability and education related organizations including the Epilepsy Foundation and PA Education Voters. She also has testified before State House and Senate committees relating to special education issues and education funding issues.
