Fun Fact 2: African and Asian elephants differ in several ways, but the variation in ears is commonly used to differentiate them. Some say that African species have ears that look like a map of Africa, and the Asian species have smaller ears that look like a map of India. Other differences include the body size, African elephants are much bigger and heavier, the skin is more wrinkled and tusks larger. The tip on the trunk of an African elephant has two prong like tips which are used to grasp objects whereas the Asian elephant has only one
Fun Fact 3: Despite the size of elephant ears the quality of hearing is poor! The body at the back of an elephant ear is surprisingly soft, and called the knuckle, this area is used by trainers to steer and give commands to the elephant. The ears on an African elephant are flapped to help keep the animal cool
Fun Fact 4: Elephants are herbivores, they eat varying types of vegetation including grass, leaves, fruits, and bark
Fun Fact 5: Elephants have a walking speed of approximately 4 mph. A surprising fact is that they are able to swim for long distances!
Fun Fact 6: Elephants can spend up to 16 hours a day eating; on average they can eat approximately 495 pounds of food each day - that's a lot of leaves
Fun Fact 7: A female elephant has the longest gestation period (pregnancy) than any other land mammal on earth; 22 months. When a calf is born it weighs approximately 100kg, it will be raised in a strong family group led by one matriarchal older female. Baby elephants are often depicted holding onto the tails of their elders
Fun Fact 8: A male calf is raised by a female herd until it reaches the age of 12-15, when it leaves to joins the males or live alone. It will be reunited with females annually in order to mate
Fun Fact 9: A fully grown adult male African Elephants can reach 10 - 13 feet high and weigh about 15,400 pounds. In comparison, a fully grown male Indian Elephant is unlikely to grow beyond 10 feet, it will weigh approximately 11,000 pounds
Fun Fact 10: Elephant tusks are made of ivory and are actually enormously enlarged teeth (incisors). They start to grow between 6–12 months of age to replace the milk teeth, they grow approximately 17cm a year
Fun Fact 11: Not all elephants have tusks; generally both male and female African elephants have tusks that are of similar size. Only the males in the Asian species have large tusks, if the females have them they are much smaller. It is quite common for Sri Lankan male elephants to have no tusk at all. Tusks are also known as ivory
Fun Fact 12: The variety of noises made by adult Elephants includes grunts, purrs, bellows, whistles and trumpeting
Fun Fact 13: Elephants have the largest brains of all animals
Fun Fact 14: The life span of an elephant is approximately 70 years
Fun Fact 15: Elephants Endangered Facts; both species of elephant are listed as endangered species; humans are the main threat to the existence of them. Although poaching and hunting of elephants is illegal and has decreased in recent years, elephants are still being exploited and cases do still exist. Other contributing factors include the loss of habitat, deforestation and global environment changes |
