Which land animal has the longest gestation period?

The land animal with the longest gestation period is the African elephant. An African elephant cow carries her calf for about 22 months—roughly 640 to 660 days—longer than any other land mammal.

This extended pregnancy gives the calf time to develop a relatively large, capable brain and body before birth. A newborn usually weighs around 100 kilograms and must stand and nurse soon after arriving, relying on the herd for protection.

The answer is sometimes confused with the hippopotamus, rhinoceros, or giraffe, but none matches the elephant’s nearly two-year gestation. Asian elephants also have exceptionally long pregnancies, generally lasting about 18 to 22 months, so “elephant” is the broader biological answer; African elephants are the standard answer for this quiz wording.

Elephant reproduction is slow in another important way: females commonly give birth to a single calf, and the interval between births is often several years. That slow reproductive rate makes population recovery difficult when adult elephants are lost.