Community Chat

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https://youtu.be/eqMwak7HSGQ

[makena]

[susan kay]

Gentle giants.  Loved those pictures, especially that last shot where the elephant fell asleep!

[2blonde]

So cute!  I love elephants, as I've said before.  I just hope at some point during their growth cycle they stop trying to sit on people's laps!

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Check out these interesting elephant facts and learn more about the biggest land mammal in the world. Elephants are unique animals that live in parts of Africa and Asia. Scroll down for more information.

There are two types of elephant, the Asian elephant and the African elephant (although sometimes the African Elephant is split into two species, the African Forest Elephant and the African Bush Elephant). Elephants are the largest land-living mammal in the world. Both female and male African elephants have tusks but only the male Asian elephants have tusks. They use their tusks for digging and finding food. Female elephants are called cows. They start to have calves when they are about 12 years old and they are pregnant for 22 months. An elephant can use its tusks to dig for ground water. An adult elephant needs to drink around 210 litres of water a day. Elephants have large, thin ears. Their ears are made up of a complex network of blood vessels which help regulate their temperature. Blood is circulated through their ears to cool them down in hot climates. Elephants have no natural predators. However, lions will sometimes prey on young or weak elephants in the wild. The main risk to elephants is from humans through poaching and changes to their habitat. The elephant’s trunk is able to sense the size, shape and temperature of an object. An elephant uses its trunk to lift food and suck up water then pour it into its mouth. An elephant’s trunk can grow to be about 2 metres long and can weigh up to 140 kg. Some scientists believe that an elephant’s trunk is made up of 100,000 muscles, but no bones.  Female elephants spend their entire lives living in large groups called herds. Male elephant leave their herds at about 13 years old and live fairly solitary lives from this point. Elephants can swim – they use their trunk to breathe like a snorkel in deep water. Elephants are herbivores and can spend up to 16 hours days collecting leaves, twigs, bamboo and roots.

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• There are two types of elephants, Asian Elephants and African Elephants.

• The scientific name for an African Elephant is Loxodonta africana and the scientific name for an Asian Elephant is Elephas Maximus.
• Elephants are the largest land mammal in the world.
• Elephants live in Asia and Africa.
• African elephants are larger than Asian elephants and have larger ears.
• Elephants are around 200 pounds when they are born.  That’s one big baby!
• Adult elephants weigh between 5,000 and 14,000 pounds.
• A female elephant is called a cow.
• A male elephant is called a bull.
• A baby elephant is called a calf.
• Elephants have no natural animal predators.
• Humans are known to kill elephants for their ivory tusks.
• Scientists discovered that elephants sing. They use an ultrasound rumble too low for humans to hear  to keep the heard together and to find mates.
• Elephants travel in a herd.  A herd has 10 or more elephants.  Herds are lead by a female elephant.
• Elephants are herbivores meaning they only eat plants and vegetables no meat.
• Elephants eat grass, leaves, shrubs, branches and fruit.
• They spend 16 hours a day eating.
• Adult elephants eat 300-600 pounds of food everyday.
• Elephants drink 40-50 gallons of water everyday.
• Elephants sleep about 2 hours per day.
• Elephants like to swim.
• An Elephants trunk is their nose.
• The average lifespan for an elephant is 60-70 years.

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