Elephants are BIG. They are the largest land animal on Earth. They weigh up to 7 tons and grow as high as 11 feet tall.
They eat a LOT. They forage for food all day and much of the night, 20 out of every 24 hours. They are herbivores who browse for dozens of varieties of plants, roots, seeds, fruits, and grasses. Some of their favorite foods are tree branches.
They are SUPER SMART. Elephants not only have big bodies, they also have big brains. They are one of the most intelligent animals, with brains three to four times larger than a human brain!
Their skin is WRINKLY. All those wrinkles retain water from rain and mud, keeping them cool in the hot weather climates of Africa and Asia, where they live. They love to dust bathe to keep their skin from burning in the hot sun.
Their trunks are MUSCULAR. Elephants can do both powerful lifting and incredibly delicate tasks with their trunks, which have 17 large muscles (eight on each side and one in the middle) and thousands of muscle fibers.
Their tusks are really TEETH. They’re really elongated incisors that extend from inside their skull that grow continually, which they use for a number of purposes. Both male and female African elephants have them, but for Asian elephants, both may have small tusks, but usually only males have large ones.
They have a cool way to COMMUNICATE. Elephants can communicate with each other by calling out or using touch, but they can also create vibrations in the ground other elephants can feel through their feet that we can’t even hear.
They have BIG FAMILIES. Elephants are part of matriarchal herds. That means they stay with their mothers their whole life, along with their cousins, nieces, aunts, and grandmas. The male elephants wander off as teenagers to meet up with other males and form bachelor herds, and they also like to roam alone to get some time to themselves. They will visit their old herd to mate with females from time to time — that way, elephant populations are sustained and grow.
They are Earth's GARDENERS. Elephant poop fertilizes the soil, which helps to keep the forest or savannahs rich with plant life. The plants who the elephants help to grow also feed many other animals.
There are several different KINDS of ELEPHANTS. There are two species of African elephants: Bush and Forest. Bush elephants live on vast open lands called savannas. Forest elephants are named for where they live, in forests. There are four species of Asian elephants: Indian elephant, Sri Lankan, Sumatran, and Borneo Pygmy elephant. You can learn how to tell them apart by looking at their ears; African elephants have t enormous ears. Asian elephants are overall smaller with smaller ears.
Elephants face DANGERS. Both wild and captive elephants are in trouble. Everywhere, they are losing habitat due to human encroachment into their habitats. In Africa and Asia, elephants are poached for their valuable ivory tusks. In Asia, elephants are often captured and held against their will for tourism, including elephant riding. In circuses, they are brutally trained to perform tricks. In South Africa, there are elephant riding facilities as well. Elephants are also held captive in zoos around the world, and the dangers they face in captivity include disease, depression, boredom, and often early death.
If you knew all these elefacts, you are an elegenius!