25 FACTS ABOUT ELEPHANTS
01. Elephants can hear one another’s trumpeting calls up to 5 miles (8 kilometers) away.
02. Elephants can get sunburned so they protect themselves with sand.
03. The oldest known elephant in the world lived for 86 years (1917 – 2003). The average lifespan of an elephant is from 50 to 70 years.
04. An elephant can smell water from 12 miles away.
05. The elephant trunk has more than 40,000 muscles in it.
06. When the “Elephant Whisperer” Lawrence Anthony died, a herd of elephants arrived at his house to mourn him.
07. . The elephant’s gestation period is 22 months – longer than any other land animal in the world. A new born human baby weighs an average of 7 pounds while a new born elephant baby can weigh up to 260 pounds! The baby can stand up shortly after being born.
08. Africa is home to the world’s largest living land animal, the African elephant, and the tallest, the Giraffe.
09. Elephants are the only mammals, besides humans, to have chins.
10. Elephants normally only sleep 2 or 3 hours each day.
11. An adult elephant requires up to 300 kg of food and 160 litres of water per day.
12. An elephant’s pair of tusks may exceed 441 pounds (200 kg).
13. Elephants pay homage to the bones of their dead, gently touching the skulls and tusks with their trunks and feet. when an elephant walks past a place that a loved one has died, he/she will stop dead still; a silent and empty pause that can last several minutes.
14. 96 elephants are killed every day in Africa.
15. African elephants have the best sense of smell in the animal kingdom.
16. The elephant’s very large ears are used to radiate excess heat away from the body.
17. African elephants can distinguish human languages, genders and ages associated with danger.
18. Elephants can swim. They use their trunk to breathe like a snorkel in deep water.
19. The word “elephant” comes from the Greek word “elephas” which means “ivory”.
20. The largest elephant on record weighed about 24,000 pounds (10,886 kg) with a height of 13 feet (3.96 m).
21. Elephants can detect rain 150 miles away.
22. Elephant brains can weigh as much as 5 KG (11 LB), more than the brain of any other land animal.
23. The elephant’s trunk is a fusion of its nose and upper lip. It is the elephant’s most important limb. The trunk is sensitive enough to pick up a blade of grass and strong enough to rip the branches off a tree. The trunk is also used for drinking – the elephant can suck up to 14 litres of water at a time and then blow it straight into its mouth! When bathing, the elephant sucks water to spray on its body. It will then spray dirt and mud on its wet coat, which will dry and act as sunscreen.
24. Dogs and elephants are the only animals that seem to instinctively understand pointing.
25. The tusks of an elephant are modified incisors that grow throughout an elephant’s lifetime. An adult male’s tusks grow about 7 inches a year. Tusks are used to dig for salt, water and roots, to debark trees, to clear a path and occasionally in fights. Additionally, they are used for marking trees to establish an elephant’s territory.
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