amazing facts about elephants

2. Researchers have observed elephants making repeated visits, attempting to assist expired animals, and calling out for help. Wonderful information for those who do not know but have you ANY idea how incredibly annoying and irritating those animated gifs are? Elephants have around 150,000 muscle units in their trunk. "Elephant Behavior Toward the Dead: A Review and Insights from Field Observations." Now, this is an amazing fact about elephants that you can share with your friends and family. An adult males tusk grows about 7 inches each year. 9. If elephants seem cool and collected, it is probably because their pulse is slow at just 27 beats a minute. African elephants are smaller at birth than Asian elephants but are much bigger as adults. Fast Facts: Baby Elephants. Elephants sleep very little. On average African elephants are about 10 feet tall at the shoulder and weigh up to 18,000 pounds. Annual Review of Animal Biosciences, vol. But occasionally, we may get things wrong, or information becomes outdated. Kids who love elephants find them fascinating because of their sheer size and gentle demeanor. When male elephants are in musth, they exhibit erratic, unpredictable, and dominant behavior. They are also able torecall the path to sources of food and water across great distances, and how to reach alternative areas should the need arise. While African elephants live in a matriarchal society, research has shown that Asian elephants are less hierarchical than their African counterparts and show little dominance based on age or gender. This difference in social organization could be attributed to habitat. Top 10 Facts About Elephants An adult elephant needs to eat up to 330lbs of food every day. When elephants greet each other, they twine their trunks together. They can detect deep pitched sounds that vibrate through the ground. Elephants are able to hear sound waves way below the human hearing range, as they can hear sounds as low as 9 Hz. Sorry for the rambling but please know I have learned so much about the beautiful elephants. They can weigh up to 5tonnes and reach 9ft in height! Swimming is a necessary skill for elephants as they cross rivers and lakes when searching for food. 2) Elephants are the world's largest land animal! The closest thing we have to an elephant's trunk is our tongue. The folds and wrinkles in their skin can retain up to 10 times more water than flat skin does, which helps to cool them down. Unfortunately, with only 40,000-50,000 left in the wild, this species is classified as endangered. All Rights Reserved. We cant think of any other appendage that is so versatile. Why just 12 tones? This is why their trunks are quite flexible and capable of doing plenty of things. They can also communicate through seismic signals - sounds that create vibrations in the ground - which they may detect through their bones. Males enter stages referred to as must where they are in a state of madness for a short period of time. Elephants use their trunks to make loud noises, or trumpet to scare away enemies. And when an elephant rumbles a call, it could be intended for family members far out of sight. There are about 50,000 muscles in an elephants trunk, made up ofsix muscle groups, and no bones. Ive seen my horse hate men but tried to kill a female vet. Even among unrelated animals, elephants show interest, examining, touching, and smelling the deceased animal. Ohio State Buckeyes: The school has the largest undergrad enrollment of any school in the . The African elephant includes forest elephants and bush or savannah elephants. Elephants are definitely advanced beings with a lot of great talents to be valued, and so are other animals. And its not just the adults even calves are huge! 243-252., doi:10.1093/beheco/arw153, Wu, Jianing, et al. It is believed that elephants have special receptors in their feet and trunk. Did you know that elephants are naturally born swimmers and can swim for hours while being completely submerged in water? Elephants are either left or right handed. My point is that we still have a lot to learn about the creatures we share this planet with and they may have things that they can teach us. The Sumatran Elephant is the smallest subspecies, but the largest mammal existing on the island of Sumatra. The elephant is the world's largest animal that lives on earth. 2. Calves drink about 3 gallons (about 11 liters) of milk a day. "Unique Numerical Competence of Asian Elephants on the Relative Numerosity Judgment Task." They make a variety of sounds, including snorts, roars, cries, and barks. Elephants only sleep for 2 to 3 hours a day. The African elephant has the largest brain in the animal kingdom - it can weigh up to 5kg! Elephants communicate vocally and they also produce a sound that is similar to a cats purr, although the elephants noise is more of a soft, low rumble. There are 8 major muscles on each side of an elephants trunk. His third eyelid, however, moves vertically over his eyes. Sarah Zielinski is an award-winning science writer and editor. Elephants use their trunk for everything! An adult elephant requires up to 300kg of food and 160 litres of water per day. On average, the ear sizes of an African elephant and an Asian elephant are very different. At birth, a baby elephants weigh 210 lbs (or 95kg). Discounts at Africas best lodges and on our hand-made packages subscribers only, STORIES & DISCUSSIONS Africanelephantsare the largest land mammals on the planet, and the females of this species undergo the longest pregnancy22 months. Most elephants in zoos, working, and in the circus are females as they seem to be easier to control. They join humans, apes, and dolphins as the only animals with self awareness. There are two elephant species on the Earth todayAfrican elephants and Asian elephants. Elephants are the only mammals, other than human beings, who have chins. Garstang, Michael. Despite their size, elephants can be turned off by the smallest of critters. Height: about 3 feet tall. 44. They have the ability to recall distant watering holes, other elephants, and humans they have encountered, even after the passage of many years. Elephants have a third eyelid. 29. Elephants purr. Elephants are considered a keystone species, meaning that they play a crucial role in their ecosystem by shaping the landscape and providing habitat for other animals. The word elephant is derived from the Greek word, elaph, meaning ivory. They have some awesome features like their large ears shaped like the map of Africa and long tusks. Elephants, particularly African elephants, live in tough climates, where it's hot, and water is often scarce. Female elephants live tight-knit lives with their families, while male elephants are more on the introverted side and live most of their lives by themselves. Elephants take regular mud baths to protect their skin from the hot sun and insect bites. Their beneficial impact on biodiversity in large unfenced ecosystems and their potentially negative impact on same in fenced environments, make them a key species in Africa. Baby elephants are blind at birth and rely upon their trunks and their mothers to help them. 111-115., doi:10.1007/s10164-018-0563-y, Blanc, J. Elephants grieve their dead and carry out ritual greetings at old carcasses covering bodies of deceased elephants in plants and frequently visiting old carcasses to linger, gently touch and pick up bones. Your money could go further if you pay monthly by Direct Debit: this Not only are their crops saved, but the farmers also get additional income from the honey. Amazingly, elephant calves are able to stand within 20 minutes of being born and can walk within 1 hour. They forge pathways through dense forests to allow other animals to pass through. Chris Weller/Business Insider sincerely i dont know this informations about elephants . Elephants are the largest land mammal. Elephantsdont like peanuts. Elephants' romantic relationships last forever. Elephants can detect seismic signals via their feet, through the leg and shoulder bones and into the middle ear. Almost all calves (99%) are born at night. Males tend to go through cycles where they are instinctively aggressive. 2023 TheFactFile.Org. In short, they do not have a musth season. Elephants communicate in a variety of ways - including sounds like trumpet calls (some sounds are too low for people to hear), body language, touch and scent. Male African elephants can reach 3m tall and weigh between 4,000 -7,500kg. This incredible survival technique means that herds of elephants can keep migrating to find food and water to thrive. This is their way of talking and yes, singing. If they had thicker hair, they would have a harder time staying cool where they live. However, some genetic. They are famous for splashing and showering themselves and others with sprays from their trunks. When an elephant loses their last set of molars, they will eventually die because they cannot eat. "Seismic Properties of Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus) Vocalizations and Locomotion." Animal Diversity Web. The African elephant population migrates across dense forests and arid deserts in 37 countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Old bulls often roam on their own, or with a few companions (often referred to as askaris), meeting up with breeding herds as cows come into season. Elephants are actually very terrified of bees. The elephants bristly hair helps them cool down. "Elephas maximus: Asiatic elephant." Some farmers in Kenyaprotect their fieldsfrom elephants by lining the borders with beehives. MaryHudson Morrow (Marshall. Bull elephants do not experience musth at the same time as others. The word elephant is derived from the Greek word, elaph, meaning ivory. In a 2019 study, Asian elephants were able to determine which of two sealed buckets contained more food based on smell alone. 3. To protect their babies, adult elephants will cover baby elephants in sand as they sleep to protect them from the sun. Bull elephants have internal testes,much like the rock hyrax a rodent-like mammal and close relative to the elephant. Elephants can identify others based on how they smell. For up to 16 hours a day elephants can be found feeding on a variety of plant life. All elephants are at risk. The smallest family unit of an elephant consists of about three members, always led by the oldest female. Theres a good reason that elephants like to play in the dirt. 50. A potentially-large tusked elephant can be defined as any elephant younger than 35 years of age, where at least one tusk weighs 60 lbs (~27 kg) and consequently the elephant's tusk/tusks have the potential, given normal wear and tear, to weigh a minimum of 80-100 lbs when 50-60 years old. 54. 2023 Smithsonian Magazine Calves are born with curly black or red hair on their foreheads. Both Asian and African elephants have life spans of 60 to 70 years. Ask your friends and check if they are aware of this awesome elephant fact. If you believe something to be incorrect, please leave us a message below. 11) African Forest elephants and African Savannah elephants have very large ears. Theres a fantastic youtube video showing them together. They dont only smell with their trunks (elephant trunks have nostrils at the end) but they also use it to touch and feel objects and other elephants. Your Privacy Rights On average, 96 elephants are poached every day for their ivory out of an estimated total population of 350,000 savanna elephants. The smell of water is so familiar to them that they can recognize it from a distance of three miles! Each herd is led by the oldest female in the group. The elephant has enough control over their power to be able grasp and lift a raw egg with the trunk without breaking the shell. CTRL + SPACE for auto-complete. supports our long-term planning and helps to keep our administration costs down. Elephants use their prehensile trunks to smell, eat, breathe underwater, make sounds, clean themselves, and defend themselves. Elephants making purring noises, much like cats do. Other animals closely related to elephants include manatees and dugongs (a marine mammal that looks like a manatee). This gland is called musth. You can unsubscribe at any time. The Washington Post described a young 10-year-old elephant visiting her mother's corpse in Kenya and leaving with "the temporal glands on each side of her head streaming liquid:a reaction linked to stress, fear and aggression." Elephants are able to identify themselves in a mirror. This compares to 639 muscles in the entire human body! An elephant will reach out its trunk and use its sense of smell to determine which foods to eat. An African elephant has two trunk tip fingers and the Asian elephant has only one finger on the tip of its trunk. They are the ones that protect the herd. We have a thorough fact-checking process and a dedicated team verifying our content for accuracy. 12. The human must protect and save this animal .Thank You for this Birth weight: about 250 pounds. Western music uses 12 semi-tones; Octave to octave, but other cultures use more (some less), which leads me to believe it was a western researcher who came up with this factoid. They grow to between 8.2 and 13 feet (2.5 and 4 meters) tall at the shoulder and weigh 5,000 to 14,000 lbs. These include tusks that grow from their incisor teeth (versus most mammals, which develop tusks from their canine teeth), flattened nails on the tips of their digits, and several similarities among their reproductive organs. When an agitated elephant stomps, theyre not just warning those in the immediate area, they may also be warning other elephants miles away. fun facts: elephants and hyraxes are the closest living relatives to manatees! 6, 2000, pp. See all of the animals August 12 is World Elephant Day. One of the three elephants, when presented with different quantities, was able to choose the panel that displayed more fruit. They even learn to eat by putting their trunks inside their mothers' mouths to take food. 139-167., doi:10.1146/annurev-animal-022114-110838. Asian elephants are smaller overall. Elephants use their trunks to breath, drink, eat, smell, snorkel, wrestle, communicate, touch, feel, hold, grab and pull. Researchers in Japan attempted to train Asian elephants to use a computer touch screen panel. Bathing helps get rid of pests and parasites. Asian elephants are threatened by habitat loss and conflict with humans. An elephants skin is 2.5cm thick in most places. They are the only living members of this order. 40. Their trunk helps them breath. If a member of their herd dies, they show sadness and grieve the loss of their family members long after they have passed away. Their brains are massive - even bigger than the brains of the much larger-bodied humpback whale. Either the Croc or the chap are named Chico. African elephants have large ears shaped like the continent of Africa. We work in east Africa and across Asia to protect and manage elephant habitat and create safe wildlife corridors so elephants can migrate safely. Elephants can recognize other elephant carcasses. Elephants are pregnant for a whopping 22 months. 25. Older females help take care of the calves in the group. They have a poor hearing, despite having such large ears. Did you notice their trunk? He took it home treated and fed it until it was well then he and his brothers returned it to the wild only to find it had returned and was lying on their porch. "Effects of Social Disruption in Elephants Persist Decades After Culling." Elephants eat up to 50 tons of food each year. AMAZING FACTS ABOUT ELEPHANT BEHAVIOR 25) Elephants have deep family bonds and tight-knit groups of related females and their offspring. Advertising Notice 2. Elephant skin is about 2.5 cm thick. They have a poor hearing, despite having such large ears. This process also helps reduce deforestation. Elephants have enough buoyancy to stay at the surface and use their powerful legs to paddle. The primary threats to elephants are habitat loss, fragmentation, and degradation. More Fun Facts About Elephants for Children. African elephants drink 60 liters of water a day while the Asian elephant drinks 40 liters of water on an average per day. (2,268 to 6,350 kilograms . I was going to write that as well. All elephants are at risk. The matriarch of the herd carries the knowledge of the elders and shares essential information with theyoung including how to respond to a variety of dangers and where to find food and water. Elephant trunks are made up of about 150,000 muscles. Cows undergo the longest gestation period of all mammals they are pregnant for 22 months. Elephants drink up to 160 liters of water a day. Adult elephants will also douse youngsters with dust. Elephants have a gland between the ear and the eye, just beneath the surface of their skin. 1. The average adult elephant poops 80 pounds a day! #5: Cartoons lieelephants dont like peanuts. Established 1991, BEST SAFARI PRICES 46. When flapped, they act as big fans, cooling the blood that runs close to the surface behind their ears. 33. Facts about Elephants September 14, 2019 Elephants are the largest of all land animals in the world. Elephant facts 1. Enlarged ear bones and sensitive nerve endings in their feet and trunks allow elephants to pick up these infrasonic messages. Each elephant has completely unique ears. They dig holes in dry riverbeds to get to deep water opening the water up for other species not able to dig. 16. Elephants are intelligent and self-aware as well. 2. I am reading a really good book: BEYOND WORDS what animals think and feel and the author is: Carl Safina. Write CSS OR LESS and hit save. 1. This is a means to signal other males about his current status. The elephants settled in the reserve and led their lives while Anthony was bonding with them and taking care of them. An elephants tusks continues to grow throughout their life. Female elephants can have babies until they are in their 50s. Stories of African elephants getting drunk from the fermented fruit of the marula tree are not true, astudyconcluded. An Elephants trunk is so powerful and precise that it can carry calves and also be used for more delicate acts like picking flowers! Elephants show similar emotions like humans do. Bulls are so strong that they can push and uproot an 18-inch diameter tree using just their trunk, head, or a leg. Elephants can hold up to 4 gallons of water in their trunks at one time. The closest thing we have to an elephants trunk is our tongue. African elephants have round heads while Asian elephants sport a twin dome. Elephants may look bald from a distance but they actually have hair. 16. Elephants are the largest living land animal. Elephants are one of the only mammals that can't jump. McComb, Karen, et al. Elephants feet are covered in a soft padding that helps support their weight. A fully grown male elephant can drink up to 212 L (55 gallons) of water within five minutes. Elephants tusks are made of ivory and are in fact teeth that grow throughout their lives. Considering their size, it is surprising how fast they can move. 32. They oldest known elephant in the world lived to be 82 years of age. Elephants breathe through their trunks 80% of the time. When a bull elephant is in musth, other bulls avoid a confrontation with him. 21. They are the only living members of this order. Elephants eat up to 50 tons of food each year. Roca, Alfred L., et al. 7. Asian elephants have much smaller ears than African elephants. We know that elephants are sensitive souls, with strong bonds to their family members, a need for comfort, and a long memory. We also support local people to live alongside elephants by protecting their fields from crop-raiding animals using solar powered electric fences and by installing beehives (elephants hate bees). Although their hide looks tough, elephants have sensitive skin that can get sunburned. Elephants can smell water up to 12 miles. The average life span for an elephant in the wild is from 50 to 70 years.