Fun Facts About Elephants

Have you ever wondered about interesting elephant facts? Let’s see how

1. There are two recognised species (types) of elephants the African elephant and the Asian elephant. The Indian elephant is a sub species of the Asian elephant. Elephants live in areas of Africa, Southern and Southeast Asia
2. The elephant is the national animal of Thailand.
3. A newborn elephant is able to stand up on its feet very soon after it’s born.
4. An elephant’s trunk has more than 40,000 muscles in it and no bones, which give it the flexibility. However, the trunk can get very heavy at times. So, the elephants are seen to rest it on their tusk.
5. Elephants consume around 15 quarts of water at a time.
6. As the elephants rely on one tusk more than the other, usually one tusk goes through the grinding leading to one being longer than the other.
7. Elephants use their trunks as a hose pipe by filling their trunks and then pouring the water in the mouth.
8. 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
9. 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
10. Elephants are herbivores, they eat varying types of vegetation including grass, leaves, fruits, and bark
11. Elephants have a walking speed of approximately 4 mph. A surprising fact is that they are able to swim for long distances!
12. 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
13. 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
14. 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
15. 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
16. Elephant tusks are made of ivory and are actually enormouslyenlarged teeth (incisors). They start to grow between 6–12 months of age to replace the milk teeth, they grow approximately 17cm a year
17. 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

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