How tall are elephants?

According to National Geographic, African elephants are the largest animals on Earth and can reach as tall as 13 feet at the shoulder. They weigh as much as 14,000 pounds. Asian elephants are slightly smaller and feature rounder ears.

African elephants can live up to 70 years in the wild. The large ears of the elephant are used to dissipate heat for cooling purposes. The prehensile trunk of the elephant is a large, specialized nose which contains about 100,000 muscles. An elephant's tusks are used for foraging, digging and stripping bark from trees. Made of ivory, tusks are also used by males in shows of aggression.