The World's Only Desert Elephants | Desert Giants Expedition

The African Desert Elephant is adapted to living in the vast Namib desert landscapes across Namibia and Angola and another population living further north in the Sahara desert. They make up the only desert adapted elephants in the world, with perhaps only 150 in the wild. They are the same species as the African Savanna Elephants ( Loxodonta africana ), but have changed behaviour to live in the desert. These elephants still need to consume huge amounts of water per day, up to 150 litres, and 250kg of vegetation. To sustain this requirement the desert elephants travel 40km along the riverbeds each night, from one water source to another so as to not deplete it, which they remember where each source is. It means the elephants travel vast distances along huge territories, travelling hundreds of kilometres along their range every month. Also living in this environment are other desert-adapted animals, including the Angolan Giraffe, the Desert Rhino, Springbok, Oryx, Desert Lions and Ostrich.
DISCLAIMER
Jack Randall has extensive experience handling and studying wild animals. Where filming with dangerous animals Made in the Wild works with scientists and wildlife institutions. Do not attempt to handle wild animals without appropriate training and permits.

About Jack Randall:
Jack is a zoologist on an adventure! His mission is to show off the world’s most amazing animals. And to do that he must explore the world’s most wild places… You can also catch Jack on his TV show with National Geographic Wild / Disney+ called "Out There with Jack Randall" . Jack was educated at Oxford University following an apprenticeship with the iconic Steve Irwin (which started when Jack was 14!).

What Are Creature Features?
All creatures have evolved different tricks to survive in the wild places they call their homes! Each animal has an awesome story about how they look, what they eat and even how they move! Creature Features spotlight the stories behind these crazy cool adaptations.

The Science:
With over 1 Million species on the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species, animal populations are in decline the world over. This is due to many reasons but what we know for sure is to keep the planet's amazing diversity of wildlife we need to learn as much as possible about where and how these creatures live their lives. Collating all the data we are gathering will help build a picture of which habitats are key to sustaining the largest diversity of life on planet earth.

Thanks to our amazing team without whom the series would not have been possible!

Sarah Ash, Edit
Suzie Brearley, Production
Alex Whitcombe & Rachel Hagreen, Camera
Rodney Katutja, Field Support
Mike Wyatt, Graphics

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