- The elephant is largest land living mammal, which a long time ago
they roamed every landmass except Australia and Antarctica.
- Two extant species, the Indian elephant, of India and Southeast Asia,
and the African elephant, ranging south of the Sahara.
- Elephants typically reach puberty at thirteen or fourteen years of
age.
- They have offspring up until they are around fifty years old.
- They may live seventy years or possibly more.
- The trunk is made of many different types of tissue, but contains
no bone.
- The number of muscles within the trunk is estimated to be as high
as 100,000! Contrast that with the entire number of muscles in the human
body, about 600.
- Elephants don't drink with their trunks, but use them as "tools"
to drink with. This is accomplished by filling the trunk with water
and then using it as a hose to pour it into the elephant's mouth.
- Elephants grieve at a loss of a stillborn baby, a family member, and
in many cases other elephants.
- Technically, elephants are incapable of running. However they can
walk very fast, and have been clocked at 18-20 mph! This is as fast
as world class Olympic hurdlers.
- Elephants eat grass, small branches, and bark from trees. They especially
like leaves from the top branches. They get the leaves by pushing down
the trees with their large heads and bodies. Then they get the bark
by scraping it with their sharp tusks.
- An elephant 'releases' 2000 litres of methane gas per day.
- An elephant's eyes are very small in relation to its head. The eye
contains very few photoreceptors and they cannot see very well further
than a few hundred feet.
- The approximately 250kg food eaten every day passes through 18m of
intestines. Eventually processed into about 100kgS of elephant dung
per day.
- The elephant heart weights 22kg and circulates about 450 litres of
blood. Inner "cleaning" is performed by a 77kg liver.
- Water and trunk: To drink it's 9 litres of water at a time, the elephant
uses its trunk which weighs 113kgs.
- The tail weighs 11 kgs.
- Elephants only digest about 40% of what they eat, and therefore,
they need to spend two-thirds of every day eating.
- Elephant herds consist of females and the young. A herd is led by
a matriarch (grandmother). As young males reached maturity they are
chased away by the herd. Bull elephants join the herd for mating.
- Elephants often rest by raising one foot and crossing it behind another.
|
