http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1946799

Can someone please tell me how they would go about doing the elephants body? would you use all fondant or rice krispies for it and how would you do the shape?

According to the picture's caption all the animals are made from fondant. I guess you could roll a ball of fondant and cut it in half, but I would think it would take a while to firm up. Perhaps 50/50 fondant & gumpaste. Rice krispie treat covered in fondant should work just as well.

Thanks for the tip on rolling the fondant into a ball. I am going to make this cake for february so I have plenty of time for it to firm up. If I was to do it with the rice krispies, how can I shape it?

You could really go either way. If you wanted it to be lighter and use less fondant (pricier than RKT) then you would roll a clementine sized ball of RKT and then cover with fondant or modelling chocolate. i would say the the trunk is fondant (or 50/50) and there would be no RKT in the trunk part of the shape.

If you're going to use RCT for the elephant body, I'd use a ball pan and press the RCT in as tightly as possible. If you needed the extra portions you could even do the elephant body in cake using the ball pan.

I would use ice krispies because they are lighter and I make MMF so that would take alot of fondant. I would spray a bowl that shape with non stick spray and then press rice krispies into them. (even use store ought rice krispies and save time) let em firm up and cover in fondant.

Im sorry I just reread the question. i thought you were asking about the head/trunk. I would 100% bake the body as half the wilton ball pan and would but that is exactly what is done here.

I'd bake a cake for the body, too!

Thank you everyone for your advise. I don't have a ball pan to bake another cake so the only option for me is to use a small plastic bowl which is proportionate the the size of cake I will be using (10" square) and make RKT. Maybe having a cup cake on top will also be another option but how would I make it round? The only thing I can think of is mashing the cupcake up with melted choc to create a cake ball and shape it in the small bowl?

A small bowl would work just as well as the ball pan. Those of us who advocate for the ball pan do so because we have one and we forget what we would have done without it. Also, making a cake ball using the small bowl as a mold is an excellent idea as well. Let us know how it turns out. Judging by your photos it will turn out perfectly (no pressure, lol).