​ELEPHANTS
Mammal        -       Vertebrate       -       Herbivore
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AFRICAN ELEPHANT
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AFRICAN ELEPHANTS
Male:  Bull
Female:  Cow
Young:  Calf
ELEPHANTS
It is believed that elephants have a specific call that means 'human'!
  • African Elephants are the largest land animals on earth.
  • Eat grasses, leaves fruits and bark.
  • Are covered in hair.
  • Are the only animals that cannot jump.
  • Are scared of bees.
  • Can smell water up to 3 miles away.
  • Skin is an inch thick.
  • Can get sunburned, so they protect themselves by throwing sand / earth on to their backs.
  • Have no natural predators - only humans!
  • Have the largest brain in the animal kingdom.
  • Have a specific alarm call that means 'humans'.
  • Can live up to the age of 70.
  • Spends about 16 hours a day feeding.
  • Live in social herds led by an older matriarch - a female.
  • Can sense fear and sadness.
  • Offer comfort by gurgling, caressing and putting their trunks in each other's mouths.
  • Males leave the herd between the ages of 12 and 15.
  • Most elephants weigh less than the tongue of a blue whale.
  • Apart from humans, elephants are the only land animals that cry.
  • The African Elephant can produce approximately 100 kilograms of manure per day … and this manure is eaten by beetles.
  • Like children sucking their thumbs, young elephants suck their trunks.
  • Elephants and humans are the only animals with chins.
  • The average length of pregnancy for an elephant is 660 days.
  • African Elephants have only 4 teeth.
  • Like to tickle each other.
  • The elephant call can be heard anywhere within 100 square miles.
  • Can tell different human languages apart.
  • An Elephant's sense of smell is so good it can distinguish between members of different African tribes.
  • Baby Elephants have milk tusks.
  • Baby Elephants suck their trunks for comfort.
  • Mourn for their dead.
  • Often assist other animals in difficulty.
  • Closest known relatives are Dugong, Manatee and Hyraxes.
  • Elephants are one of three mammals to go through the menopause - the others are the humpback whale and female humans.
  • The world's most expensive coffee brands (Black Ivory Coffee) is made from the dung of the Thai elephants.  The elephants eat the beans and they are then passed through the system and then collected to make the coffee.
​Ears:
  • Hearing is poor.
  • African Elephants ears look like the outline of the African Continent.
  • African Elephants have the largest ears of any animal in the world.
  • Asian Elephants have smaller, rounded ears.
  • Ears are used to aid ventilation and keep them cool.
Eyes:
  • Eyes are very small and their eyesight is poor.
Trunk:
  • Trunks are actually a long nose, used for smelling, breathing, trumpeting, drinking and for grabbing things.
  • Use their trunks as snorkels when they are swimming.
  • Has 40,000 muscles in its trunk - more than adult humans have in their entire body.
  • Their trunks hold more than 5 litres of water.
  • Their trunks are so dextrous, they can pick up a grain of rice.
  • Newborn elephants have no control over their trunks.
Tusks
  • Tusks grow throughout their lives.
  • Both male and female have tusks.
  • A male's tusks can be eight feet long.

​The closest known relatives of the Elephant ...
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The Dugong
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The Hyrax
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The Manatee
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ASIAN ELEPHANTS