Do Elephants Eat Peanuts? (Answer Here)

At some point in your life, you have probably heard about how much elephants like peanuts, whether it was from a childhood story or a movie like Dumbo. But have you ever wondered if it was true? Do elephants actually enjoy eating peanuts? 

Elephants do eat peanuts. However, peanuts are not found in elephants' natural habitats and therefore are not a staple in their diets. Instead, elephants prefer foods such as tree bark, roots, fruit, and hay. 

In the rest of this article, I will go on to talk about what an elephant's favorite food is, other foods they enjoy, foods they dislike, how much they consume daily, and where precisely the myth that elephants love to eat peanuts originates from. Check out our amazing elephant gifts.

Do Elephants Eat Peanuts?

Elephants eat peanuts but only because humans introduced them into their diet. Peanuts are safe for elephants, and elephants in captivity often eat them, usually from the hands of humans. However, since peanuts aren’t found in elephants’ natural habitats, wild elephants don’t eat them. 

What Is an Elephant’s Favorite Food?

Now that your head has been cleared of the common peanut misconception and you know that elephants don't really love peanuts, you might be wondering what sorts of foods they do enjoy. 

So what exactly is an elephant's favorite food? 

An elephant's favorite food is tree bark. They use their long tusks to harvest different tree barks, including willow, silver maple, and sugar maple bark. 

Other Foods Elephants Like To Eat

Elephants eat a diverse diet of fruits, vegetables, and grasses. On average, an elephant consumes about 15 lbs (7 kg) of produce per day! Now that is a ton of food! 

Let's take a look at what other foods elephants enjoy:

• Roots. Elephants enjoy digging up and consuming most tree roots. Eating tree roots is also one way they stay hydrated during the dryer months. 
• Grasses. Some of the types of grasses elephants enjoy are Buffel Grass, Weeping Love Grass, Pangola Grass, Klein Grass, Bermuda Grass, Centipede grass, and Napier Grass.
• Tree shrubs. Elephants will consume just about any shrubs, leaves, or branches they encounter, provided they are not toxic. 
• Fruits. Elephants enjoy a variety of fruits such as apples, bananas, melons, pineapples, pears, tomatoes, cucumbers, jackfruit, and coconuts.
• Vegetables. Like fruits, these fantastic beasts love to eat many different vegetables such as celery, parsley, lettuce, cabbage, kale, potatoes, onions, and beets.
• Seedlings. Elephants love to consume many varieties of small seedlings they come across during their travels, including red cotton plants and bamboo shoots. 
• Leaves. Elephants will consume almost any leaves from the surrounding trees, provided they are not toxic. 
• Marula fruit. These giant creatures are known for sometimes becoming intoxicated after consuming Marula fruits that have been left out in the sun to ferment. 
• Soil. In the wild, elephants will root around and eat dirt in order to get enough salt in their diets. 

Elephants are primarily fed a diet of hay intermingled with pellets, fruits, and veggies in captivity. This means that an adult elephant can consume as much as four to five hay bales per day! 

In the wild, elephants must stay highly active, traveling miles a day to keep up with their caloric needs. While in captivity, elephants are usually provided with supplements and pellets which are rich in vitamins and minerals such as salt to promote the best health of the elephants. 

Essentially, elephants will consume any plant matter in their path. This includes:

• Roots
• Bark
• Trees
• Plants
• Gardens

This makes them a massive threat to farmers and their crops. 

Foods Elephants Dislike Eating

Elephants will eat most types of produce, with the exception of hot chili peppers. They also won’t eat meat. 

In Africa, the planting or rubbing of spicy chili peppers in their crop fields is used as a precaution to keep elephants from decimating their crops. 

This spicy plant will generally keep the elephants away even when planted next to fruits or vegetables they might enjoy. Elephants intensely dislike the spice levels of chilis.

How Much Food an Elephant Consumes in a Day

Elephants are herbivorous and are able to consume about 300 lbs (136 kg) of food per day. This means they must spend most of their day foraging for food using their tusks and trunks.

In order for an adult elephant to stay healthy, they need to consume around 70,000 calories per day. This means that elephants easily spend the majority of their day (16-18 hours) foraging and traveling in search of food. 

In captivity, these numbers can be slightly lower since the elephants will not need to spend as much time searching for food, and they will have less room to roam since they are generally kept in an enclosure. 

You should also take a second to check out Animal facts by Datacube video on elephants and how much food they consume daily if you would like to learn more about elephants eating habits. 

Where Did the Myth That Elephants Love Peanuts Come From?

Now that you know what foods an elephant prefers over peanuts, you might still be wondering where the peanut misconception comes from?

The myth that elephants love peanuts comes from traveling circuses and zoos in the 19th century. These establishments would hand out peanuts for the guests to feed the elephants since they were a relatively cheap snack at that time. 

Many spectators who flocked to zoos and circus performances wanted the chance to feed an elephant, and so these establishments would sell bags of peanuts so that the gathering crowds could do just that. 

If you want to learn some more about the life of an elephant in the early days of the traveling circuses, you should definitely consider reading Modoc:The True Story of the Greatest Elephant That Ever Lived by Ralph Helfer (available on Amazon). 

Even Betty White had a glowing review of this heartwarming book that is based on a true story!

Conclusion 

So do elephants eat peanuts? Technically yes, they can consume peanuts, and it will not necessarily harm them to do so. 

But the real question is, do elephants like peanuts? No, not really. Peanuts are not native to elephants' homelands and therefore are not something they would consume naturally in the wild. 

While some elephants will eat a peanut if offered, most would prefer a different tasty treat such as a piece of fruit, veggie, or some tree bark.