15 Animals That Can challenge an Elephant

15 Animals That Can challenge an Elephant
African elephants are the world's largest land mammals, and although they don’t usually look for trouble, these massive creatures can be quite hostile, at times. Elephants have also been known to invade villages and destroy them. But are elephants invincible or are there certain animals that can give the elephants a run for their money? Why don’t you tell us in the comments which animals they are? If you have no idea, then it’s time to watch as we countdown 15 animals that can challenge an elephant

Ants

Elephants are an extremely enormous and bulky pest concern for African agriculture. These massive creatures trample over fences, ignore loud noise deterrents, and eat a wide variety of crops, from tomatoes to potatoes, without hesitation. Experts who studied elephant eating habits in Kenyan savannas discovered an amazing anomaly: the lumbering mammals plowed through everything they came across, except one type of tree that was covered in ants. They discovered that elephants enjoy eating ant plants just as much as their preferred tree species and that when either tree species had ants on them, the elephants avoided them like a child avoids broccoli. So, why do they have such a strong dislike for ants? Elephants, despite their size and tusks, are not the tough guys we assume they are. The skin on the inside of elephants' trunks is extraordinarily delicate and soft, despite their tough, leathery exteriors. The ant colony attacks when an elephant pulls a branch from an ant-infested tree. The elephant's trunk is swarming with little fighters that bite the brute where it hurts. A single whiff of ants is enough to send a herd of elephants fleeing. These ants have effectively warded off the malevolent super-eaters from destroying entire savanna ecosystems by going after the elephants' "Achilles heel”. These tiny ants are key ecosystem agents, capable of regulating woody plant biomass buildup in savanna and preserving tree populations against catastrophic elephant destruction. If ants can successfully defend an entire population of trees, there's a chance they'll be able to keep elephants away from crops as well. Now, did you ever think these tiny creatures could match up against the biggest walking mammals on the planet?

Lions

Elephants are rarely attacked by lions unless they are malnourished, and even then, there is a significant risk. This elephant is in serious difficulty in this video, with full pride of lions biting and climbing on it. Where is the herd when you need it? That’s the way a lion pride takes down an elephant and when they’re starving, they are even more intense, so it makes it more difficult for the elephant to escape. This big elephant chases these lions and there isn’t a thing they can do about it. For lions to take down such a massive healthy elephant, they need to be a large group and then, perhaps, they may succeed. Lions seldom attack elephants unless they are starving, and even then, it’s a very big risk. In this clip, a band of hungry Lions approaches a group of Elephants drinking from a water hole. A juvenile Elephant is left unprotected and defenseless against the Lion pack's overwhelming attack as the Elephants are split. It surprises me that the rest of the herd doesn’t help it out. If the entire herd charged the lions, I’m sure the lions would take off, but it’s not the case. Sometimes elephants behave like buffalo and show an incomprehensible indifference.