Elephants are a huge part of popular culture and show up as metaphors across all media. They form a part of religious beliefs and are often associated with wisdom or altruism. However, many people who live outside the normal range of elephants are unfamiliar with the many interesting facts about them. This list gives an overview of ten interesting areas about elephants.
#1.Types of Elephant.
Did you know there are several different species of elephant . Until 2010, only 2 species of elephant were scientifically recognized. However, genetic testing has revealed that there are at least 3 species. These are the Asian elephant alphas maximus, the African bush elephant loxodonta Africana (also called the savannah elephant), and the African forest elephant loxodonta cyclones. The Asian elephant is the smallest, and has small ears and tusks. They have two prominent bumps on their foreheads. They hold their heads more erect than both African elephants, have no protruding upper lip, and have a single short finger-like lip at the end of their trunk which they use for fine manipulation of objects. Both African elephants have larger ears, although the forest elephant has much rounder ears, are less hairy, have larger tusks, rounded foreheads, and have two finger-like lips on their trunks. The forest elephant has relatively straight, downward-pointing tusks whilst the bush elephant has magnificently curved ones. Most elephants are crepuscular, meaning that they are most active during dawn and evening, although this varies due to local climate. Unfortunately, all other species are extinct, and the rest is in endangered.
#2. Physical Characteristics.
Elephants are the world’s largest land animals now living. The largest elephant ever recorded was shot in Angola in 1956. This male weighed about 24,000 lb (11,000 kg), with a shoulder height of 3.96 meters (13.0 ft), a meter (yard) taller than the average male African elephant .
Elephants also can swim well, but cannot trot, jump, or gallop. They do have two gaits: a walk and a faster gait that is similar to running.
#3. life & Death.
The elephant’s gestation period is 22 months, the longest of any land animal. At birth it is common for an elephant calf to weigh 120 kilograms (260 lb). They typically live for 50 to 70 years, but the oldest recorded elephant lived for 82 years. Healthy adult elephants have no natural predators, although lions may take calves or weak individuals.
Elephant graveyards are not supported by any hard evidence, but death is important to them nonetheless. Their normal lifespan is 60-80 years. Elephants, humans, and Neanderthals are the only animals known to have death rituals. If an elephant becomes sick, herd members will bring it food and help support it as it stands. If it dies, they will try to revive it with food and water for a while. Once it is clear that an elephant is dead, the herd will become very quiet. They often dig a shallow grave and cover the deceased elephant with dirt and branches, and will stay at the grave for days afterwards. If the elephant had a particularly close relationship with its deceased peer, it can show signs of depression. Even herds that come across an unknown lone elephant who has died will show it similar respects. There are also reported cases of elephants burying dead humans they have found in this way.
Photograph by paddyboy
Elephant graveyards are not supported by any hard evidence, but death is important to them nonetheless. Their normal lifespan is 60-80 years. Elephants, humans, and Neanderthals are the only animals known to have death rituals. If an elephant becomes sick, herd members will bring it food and help support it as it stands. If it dies, they will try to revive it with food and water for a while. Once it is clear that an elephant is dead, the herd will become very quiet. They often dig a shallow grave and cover the deceased elephant with dirt and branches, and will stay at the grave for days afterwards. If the elephant had a particularly close relationship with its deceased peer, it can show signs of depression. Even herds that come across an unknown lone elephant who has died will show it similar respects. There are also reported cases of elephants burying dead humans they have found in this way.
Photograph by paddyboy
#4.Intelligence.
With a mass just over 5 kg (11 lb), elephant brains are larger than those of any other land animal. A wide variety of behaviours associated with intelligence have been attributed to elephants, including those associated with grief, making music, art, altruism, play, use of tools, compassion and self-awareness.
Photograph by Eduard
Photograph by Eduard
#5.Social Lives.
Elephants live in a structured social order. The social lives of male and female elephants are very different. The females spend their entire lives in tightly knit family groups made up of mothers, daughters, sisters, and aunts. These groups are led by the eldest female, or matriarch. Adult males, on the other hand, live mostly solitary lives.
Photograph by Nick Brandt
Photograph by Nick Brandt
#6.Tusks.
The tusks of an elephant are its second upper incisors. Tusks grow continuously; an adult male’s tusks grow about 18 cm (7 in) a year. Tusks are used to dig for water, salt, and roots; to debark trees to eat the bark; to dig into baobab trees to get at the pulp inside; and to move trees and branches when clearing a path. In addition, they are used for marking trees to establish territory, and occasionally as weapons.
Photograph by Nick Brandt
Photograph by Nick Brandt
#7.Trunks.
The proboscis, or trunk, is a fusion of the nose and upper lip, elongated and specialized to become the elephant’s most important and versatile appendage. African elephants are equipped with two fingerlike projections at the tip of their trunk, while Asians have only one. The elephant’s trunk is sensitive enough to pick up a single blade of grass, yet strong enough to rip the branches off a tree.
The trunk is also used for drinking. Elephants suck water up into the trunk—up to 14 liters (15 quarts) at a time—and then blow it into their mouths. Elephants also suck up water to spray on their bodies during bathing. On top of this watery coating, the animals will then spray dirt and mud, which dries and acts as a protective sunscreen. When swimming, the trunk makes an excellent snorkel.
Photograph by Sandy Powers
Photograph by Sandy Powers
#8.Feet.
Each elephant foot has 5 toes, but not every toe has a nail. An easy way to tell the two African elephant species apart is by counting toenails. The African forest elephant and the Asian elephant both have 5 toenails on the front feet and 4 on the back feet. The larger African bush elephant has 4 or sometimes 5 on the front feet and 3 on the back. An X-ray of an elephant’s foot will reveal that its bones are actually standing on tip-toe. Their feet are flat because of a large pad of gristle under each heel which acts as a shock absorber and helps them walk quietly. Their legs are much straighter than those of other animals and support their weight so well that elephants sleep while standing. Elephants spend most of their lives walking huge distances, and their feet are suitably adapted to such a lifestyle. Zoos which keep elephants often find they develop foot problems due to a lack of constant walking, and treatments include tailored shoes to protect their softened feet.
Photograph by Dave Lewis
Photograph by Dave Lewis
#9.Extinct Elephants.
The elephant taxonomic order, proboscidea, has only 3 members today, but it used to have over forty. Most of these thrived until the end of the last glacial period 12500 years ago. These creatures were generally similar in size to modern Asian elephants, although there were tiny dwarf elephants and the humongous deinotherium, 4.5m tall and weighing 14 tones. For comparison, the largest African bush elephant recorded was 4m tall and weighed 12 tones. Within proboscidea, the mastodon family mammutidae contains modern elephants and the very famous mammoths. Mammoths had long curved tusks and were much hairier than even modern Asian elephants. The last mammoth to go extinct was the woolly mammoth, whose numbers had dwindled as the climate warmed and was finally hunted to extinction in Europe, Asia, and the Americas 12000 years ago, although some populations isolated from humans persisted until as recently as 4000 years ago.
Photograph by Frank G. and Frances Carpenter
Photograph by Frank G. and Frances Carpenter
#10.Diet.
Elephants are herbivores and spend up to 16 hours a day eating plants. Their diets are highly variable, both seasonally and across habitats and regions. Elephants are primarily browsers, feeding on the leaves, bark, and fruits of trees and shrubs, but they may also eat considerable grasses and herb.
Photograph by Beverly Joubert
Photograph by Sklmsta
Photograph by Eduard
Photograph by Sandy Powers
Photograph by Bernard Gagnon
Photograph by Nick Brandt
Photograph by George Steinmetz
Photograph by Nick Brandt
Photograph by William Albert Allard
Photograph by Andrew Styan
Photograph by Beverly Joubert
Photograph by Sklmsta
Photograph by Eduard
Photograph by Sandy Powers
Photograph by Bernard Gagnon
Photograph by Nick Brandt
Photograph by George Steinmetz
Photograph by Nick Brandt
Photograph by William Albert Allard
Photograph by Andrew Styan
