Elephants 16 Month 2012 Calendar. The Elephant is a truly remarkable animal. There are primarily two types of Elephant, the African Elephant and the Indian Elephant. There has been several other variants of the Elephant over the course of time, but these have all become extinct since the ice age. Elephants are the largest land mammals alive today and they can live to a ripe old age of 70! Unfortunately, both the Indian and African Elephants are increasingly threatened by humans. Between 1970 & 1989, the African elephant population plunged from 1.3 million to about 600,000. Even now the population is estimated at worst to number approx. 400,000. Thankfully these creatures are now protected on an international level where restrictions have been placed on their capture, domestic use, and trade in products such as ivory.