Elephants spend up to 18 hours a day feeding and adult bulls can consume more than 250 kg of vegetation per 24hour period and need about 160 liters of water. Natural world facts is a channel dedicated to bringing you fascinating facts about our natural world, and the wonderful animals that. Elephants can be distinguished by the shape of their ears. An elephant uses its trunk to lift food and suck up water then pour it into its mouth. These tusks can be as large as 79 in 200 cm of a large bull elephant. Parts of a data sheet used in the 1994 tsavo elephant count.
Both female and male african elephants have tusks which they use to help find and dig for food. The word elephant is based on the latin elephas genitive elephantis elephant, which is the latinised form of the greek elephas genitive elephantos, probably from a nonindoeuropean language, likely phoenician. Elephants are the worlds largest land animals and one of our. This fact file is all about the elephant in the series mammals.
A new mother will choose her aunties and together they will raise the baby. How does this resource excite and engage childrens learning. The african elephants ears are over twice as large as the asian elephants and have a different shape, often described as similar to a map of africa. Some national parks especially the kruger national park with the largest concentration of elephants in south africa and addo elephant national park. The african species are the white and black rhinos. Elephants use their trunk for smelling, breathing, detecting vibrations, caressing their young, sucking up water, and grasping objects.
Elephants can drink between 4050 gallons of eater every day. Help wwfs elephant conservation efforts to fight poaching, conflict and habitat. There are two types of asian elephants and african elephants. Male elephants, or bulls, live alone once they become adults. Fierce competition for living space has resulted in human suffering, and a dramatic loss of forest cover. African elephants are the largest land animals on earth. About 20% of the worlds human population lives in or near the present range of the asian elephant. African elephant facts for kids elephants african animals. An elephant running in the masai mara, kenya courtesy of flickr user brittanyhock by sarah zielinski. Elephants can grow over feet tall and weigh up to 15,000 pounds. The oldest known elephant in the world lived for 86 years 1917 2003. It is like a cushion which can take the strain of the leg and absorb the impact when the elephant walks.
The average lifespan of an elephant is from 50 to 70 years. An elephants skin can be up to one inch thick, but it is also very sensitive. The largest known elephant was shot in angola in 1956 and weighed about 11 tons. Elephant food in this sanctuary has largely been wiped out. In the wild, a mother elephant has help with the babies from other elephants who are known as aunties. Out comes the water, right down the elephants throat. The elephants closest living relative is the rock hyrax, a small furry mammal that lives in rocky landscapes across subsaharan africa and along the coast of the arabian peninsula. All about flamingos they have long legs, curving beaks and. When it has worn down, the elephant can no longer chew food properly. Discover more about your favourite african animals by looking at these fact files. These brilliant fact file sheets are a great way to engage your children and have them actively searching for information on african animals, building their information. The african elephant population is estimated at around 470,000 individuals, however, numbers in the last century were estimated to be between 3 and 5 million. The ear of an indian elephant is roughly shaped like india, while the ear of an african elephant is roughly shaped like africa.
Elephants form deep family bonds and live in tight social units. The african elephant is the largest animal walking the. Each student should have a copy of tarras hay calendar and 1 sheet of hay bales. Included in this product is a black and white informational book about elephants, two worksheets for notetaking and two choices in research forms to be filled out by the child. Elephants eat grass, leaves, roots, fruit, bark and. Elephant ears radiate heat to help keep these large animals cool, but sometimes the african heat is too much. Elephant facts african, asian, wild, food, interesting. Traditionally the major cause of the species decline has been poaching for ivory. The species is listed as vulnerable on the iucn red list of threatened species. When an elephant drinks, it sucks as much as 2 gallons 7. Asian elephants can be identified by their smaller, rounded ears.
The elephant is one of the so called big 5 animals, an old hunters term given to the 5 most dangerous animals to hunt in africa. Elephant has a long tail that extends below the knee. African elephants are the largest living land animals. Then it curls its trunk under, sticks the tip of its trunk into its mouth, and blows. Elephants, the largest land mammals, still face being killed for their tusks. With the help of over 7,000 of the worlds best wildlife filmmakers and photographers, conservationists and scientists, arkive. A combination of the upper lip and nose, an african elephant s trunk is extremely versatile.
In addition to being smaller, forest elephants are. The biggest elephant ever weighed 24,000 pounds and was feet tall. Elephants are large, majestic animals that have been admired and studied for hundreds of years. African elephant, facts and photos national geographic. This allows for the calf to grow to an incredible size, so much so that the average weight of a baby elephant when it is born is around 260 pounds.
A young male elephant stays with the herd until he is about 15 years old. They are the largest mammal that lives on land and are known for their gentle attitude and intelligence. Beyond poaching, one of the biggest threats to the dwindling elephant population throughout the world is the fact that elephants pregnancies are considerably long. It is attested in mycenaean greek as erepa genitive erepato in linear b syllabic script. Asian rhinos include the indian and the javan, each with one horn, and the sumatran, which has two. However, the females, or cows, live in tight family groups led by the oldest. Elephants are known for their large ears, tusks made of ivory and their trunks which are actually a fusion of their nose and upper lip. The tusks of an elephant are modified incisors that grow throughout an elephants. Some farmers surround their crops with chile powder, in fact, as elephantproofing. Elephants are capable of surviving in nearly any habitat that has adequate quantities of food and water. Thats as many calories as youd find in 127 big mac sandwiches. In depth facts global sanctuary for elephants elephant. An elephants brain is up to four times larger than a humans. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets.
There are two species of elephants remaining in the world the african and the asian. Some scientists believe that an elephants trunk is made up of 100,000 muscles, but no. An elephants trunk can grow to be about 2 metres long and can weigh up to 140 kg. The largest land animal in the world is african elephant or loxodonta africana, not the asian elephant. The trunk of the african elephant has two fingerlike structures at its tip that allow the animal to perform both delicate and powerful movements. Elephants have been known to dig up the ground in search of water. Indian elephant indian elephants grow to be about 611 feet. Flamingos, with their long legs, curving beaks and bright orange color, are the showstoppers of the bird world.
If you check out the female african elephant, it has smaller body compared to the male counterpart. Elephant anatomy, habitat, feeding, reproduction and elephant predators introduction to elephants. There are five species of rhinos two african and three asian. When you see the legs of an african elephant, it reminds you with a massive pillar. The elephants trunk is able to sense the size, shape and temperature of an object.
They can hear each others calls up to 5 miles away. The tip of their trunk is comprised of two opposable extensions, or fingers. In india and other asian countries, including myanmar, thailand, malaysia, bhutan and china. African elephants live in forests, savannas, grasslands throughout africa. They range in color from light to dark gray, with the most distinct features being their huge ears and tusks. This page contains amazing indian elephant facts for kids and adults. To protect farmland from hungry elephants some farmers place bee hives on the outskirts of the farmland. Species african elephant loxodontaafricana asian elephant elephas. Elephant pregnancies are the longest of any mammals, a full 22 months. Disney wasnt lying in the jungle book elephants actually do actually walk in single file when they on the move, for instance while in search of food. The african elephant is the largest land mammal on earth and perhaps one of the most intelligent.
Learn more interesting african elephant facts at animal fact guide. A full grown elephant needs to eat an incredible 140kgs of food and drink 200 litres of water each day. Since african elephants live where the sun is usually blazing hot, they use their trunks to help them keep cool. While these elephants dont have many predators, there is one threat that is quickly endangering them. An elephant can poop 1215 times a day all that poop can add up to 300 pounds a day. Elephant book for kids 101 animal facts 21 kindle edition by factly, ip, wildlife, ic.
African elephant population african elephants are rated vulnerable by the iucn. Wild elephants live in families called herds herds are made up of female elephants. The elephant is earths largest land animal, although the asian elephant is slightly smaller than its african cousin. The asian elephant is found in a wide range of forest habitats in parts of india, nepal.
The asian elephant elephas maximus, also called asiatic elephant, is the only living species of the genus elephas and is distributed throughout the indian subcontinent and southeast asia, from india in the west, nepal in the north, sumatra in the south, and to borneo in the east. Wildscreen s arkive project was launched in 2003 and grew to become the worlds biggest encyclopaedia of life on earth. African elephant fact sheet david shepherd wildlife. Elephant fact file an elephant, with a young one, trying to eat the leaves of a tree at the pablakhali wildlife sanctuary in rangamati. In the wild, flamingos live in flocks in florida, central and south america, as well as a few places in africa. Its remarkable tusks first appear when the animal is two years of age and continue. They have large and thin ears along with an extremely sensitive trunk. Male adult elephants need over 70,000 calories each day. This nonfiction book on elephants is a great resource to use for doing a research project on the elephant with your prekkindergarten class. They are slightly larger than their asian cousins and can be identified by their larger ears that look somewhat like the continent of africa.
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