What genus contains the African elephants?

The genus containing African elephants is Loxodonta.

Living African elephants comprise two species: the African bush elephant (Loxodonta africana) and the African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis). They were once commonly treated as subspecies, but morphological and genetic evidence supports recognizing them as separate species.

The name Loxodonta comes from Greek roots meaning “slanting tooth,” referring to the lozenge-shaped enamel patterns on their molars. This helps distinguish them from Asian elephants, whose molar ridges have a different shape. African elephants also generally have larger ears and, in the bush species, a more concave back.

A common mix-up is Elephas, the genus of the living Asian elephant. Mammuthus is the genus of mammoths, while Palaeoloxodon contains several extinct straight-tusked and dwarf elephants. Loxodonta also includes extinct African relatives known from fossils dating back millions of years.