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- They’re the world’s largest land animal. The African Savanna (Bush) elephant is the world's largest land animal – with adult males, or bull elephants, standing up to 3m high and weighing up to 6,000kg on average.
- You can tell the three species apart by their ears. There are three species of elephant: African Savanna (Bush), African Forest and Asian. The ears of African elephants are much larger than their cousins and are described as being shaped like the African continent, whereas the ears of Asian elephants are shaped like the Indian subcontinent.
- Their trunks have mad skills. Elephants have around 150,000 muscle units in their trunk. Their trunks are perhaps the most sensitive organ found in any mammal.
- Their tusks are actually teeth. Elephant tusks are actually enlarged incisor teeth which first appear when elephants are around 2 years old. Tusks continue growing throughout their lives.
- Elephants are the largest of all land animals in the world.
- It takes a female 22 months from conception to have a baby. This is longer than any other animal in the world.
- A newborn elephant can stand up shortly after being born. They can weigh up to 260 pounds.
- The average life span for an elephant in the wild is from 50 to 70 years. They oldest known elephant in the world lived to be 82 years of age.
- Elephant Profile
- Interesting Elephant Facts
- Elephant Fact-File Summary
Elephantsare the largest living land mammals on the planet, that habitat sub-Sharan Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. They are the only living member of the family Elephantidae and the order Proboscidea, which once contained the now extinct Woolly Mammoth, and American Mastodon.
1. Elephants are the largest living land animals on earth.
The African bull elephant can grow as large as 13 feet (4 meters) tall, weigh between 4,000-7,500 kg and can have tusks as long as 6.5 feet (2 meters) in length weighing 100 pounds each (45 kg).
2. Elephants have the largest brain in all of the animal kingdom.
Their brains can weigh up to a whopping 5.4kg. Size doesn’t necessarily equate directly to intelligence, however evidence suggests that elephants are some of the most intelligent, social and empathic animals on the planet.1
3. Elephants can hear and communicate through the ground.
They can communicate long distances by foot stomping, and creating a low-frequency rumble that generates seismic waves in the ground that can travel nearly 20 miles. The sensitive skin in an elephant’s trunk and feet helps them to pick up the message, and interpret them as a warning, or distant danger.
Species & Subspecies List
1. F. Jabr (2014). “The Science Is In: Elephants Are Even Smarter Than We Realized”, via Scientific American. 2. (2015) “Elephants can hear the sound of approaching clouds”, via BBC Earth. 3. “Asian Elephants FAQ”, via Born Freecharity. 4. L. Parker (2016) “Rare Video Shows Elephants ‘Mourning’ Matriarch’s Death”, via National Geographic. 5. “Can Elephants Swim?”, via San Diego Wild Animal Park. 6. M. Holdgate, et al (2016). “Walking Behavior of Zoo Elephants”, via the NCBI. 7. J. Ritchie (20...
- Savannahs, Rainforests, Deserts, & Marshes
- 6.5-13 ft (2 m-4 m)
- 60-70 Years
- There are three different species of elephant – the African Savannah elephant, the African Forest elephant and the Asian elephant. Elephants are known for their large ears, tusks made of ivory and their trunks.
- Elephants are the world’s largest land animal! Male African elephants can reach 3m tall and weigh between 4,000 -7,500kg. Asian elephants are slightly smaller, reaching 2.7m tall and weighing 3,000– 6,000kg.
- There’s an easy way to tell the African elephants apart from their Asian cousins – their ears! African elephants have large ears shaped like the continent of Africa!
- You can tell a lot about an elephant by looking at their tusks! Elephant tusks never stop growing, so enormous tusks can be a sign of an old elephant.
- The word elephant is derived from the Greek word, elaph, meaning ivory. Elephants are a member of the order Proboscidea, to which animals that have a trunk belong.
- There are two types of elephants – the African elephant and the Asian elephant. The African elephant has two distinct species – the forest and the savanna elephants.
- Asian elephants have smaller ears than African elephants. The shape of the head also differentiate them. African elephants have round heads while Asian elephants sport a twin dome.
- Did you know that the average walking speed of an elephant is 4.5 miles per hour? And during an experiment, some elephants demonstrated that they could walk or run up to 15 mph.
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The elephant is pregnant for an average of 22 months. On average baby elephants weigh 200 – 300 pounds at birth. The elephant is the national animal of Thailand. An elephant’s tooth can weigh as much as three kilograms. The intestines of an elephant may be 19 meters in length, or more than 60 feet long. Elephants purr like cats do, as a ...
Sep 13, 2019 · Learn about elephants' size, diet, behavior, intelligence, and conservation status with these interesting facts. Discover how elephants communicate, migrate, reproduce, and interact with humans and other animals.
