African elephant vs Clustered Holly

Loxodonta africana compared with Ilex aggregata

Key Differences

• African elephant is Vulnerable while Clustered Holly is Least Concern.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	African elephant	Clustered Holly
Kingdom	Animalia (Animals)	Plantae (Plants)
Phylum	Chordata (Chordates)	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)
Class	Mammalia (Mammals)	Magnoliopsida (Dicots)
Order	Proboscidea (Elephants)	Aquifoliales (Aquifoliales)
Family	Elephantidae (Elephants)	Aquifoliaceae
Genus	Loxodonta (African Elephants)	Ilex
Species	Loxodonta africana	Ilex aggregata

Conservation Status

African elephant

VU — Vulnerable

Population: ~415.0K

Trend: Decreasing ↓

Clustered Holly

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	African elephant	Clustered Holly
Diet	Herbivore	—
Average Lifespan	65 years	—
Average Length	6.0 m	—
Average Weight	6.0 t	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

African elephant

Habitat

Found across multiple habitat types including tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, tropical and subtropical grasslands and savannas, and flooded grasslands and savannas, among 5 distinct biome types within the Afrotropic biogeographic realm. Populations are also found in montane and highland environments at higher elevations.

Range

Found in Kenya. Currently classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, this species faces significant conservation challenges across its range.

Clustered Holly

Habitat

Typically found in diverse terrestrial habitats from tropical forests to temperate regions.

African elephant

The largest land animal on Earth, African elephants can reach 7,000 kg and inhabit sub-Saharan savannas, forests, and wetlands. Highly intelligent with complex social structures led by matriarchs, they communicate through infrasound, rumbles, and touch. As ecosystem engineers, they shape habitats by uprooting trees, digging waterholes, and dispersing seeds. Vulnerable, with populations declining due to ivory poaching and habitat loss.

Clustered Holly

Ilex aggregata is a holly in the family Aquifoliaceae. The genus Ilex is the largest genus in its family, comprising approximately 600 species distributed across tropical and subtropical regions of all continents except Antarctica and Australia, with diversity centers in South America and Asia. I. aggregata appears to be a South American or neotropical species, consistent with the high diversity of the genus in that region. Hollies are evergreen or deciduous shrubs and trees with typically leathery, often spiny leaves. They are dioecious, with male and female flowers borne on separate plants, and produce characteristic fleshy drupes (berries) that are often red, orange, or black when ripe, providing food for birds and other frugivores that disperse the seeds. Many Ilex species are adapted to forest understory, forest margins, and montane habitats. Holly berries and leaves are generally toxic to mammals, though consumed by certain birds. I. aggregata is classified as Least Concern by the IUCN. Detailed habitat and distribution data for this species are limited in publicly available records.