Elephants are the world’s largest mammals that weigh up to four to six tons. These majestic terrestrial creatures are famous for their long trunk and big teeth. They are approx 10 feet tall and eat around 600 tons of vegetation each day. They are highly intelligent and can recognise themselves in mirrors, use tools to solve problems and remember things. Let’s explore some interesting facts about elephants, their physical features, eating habits and more.

Physical Characteristics of Elephants
What do Elephants Eat
Where do Elephants Live
Interesting Facts about Elephants

Physical Characteristics of Elephants

These mighty tuskers have unique features such as pillar-like legs, big teeth, tough grey skin and large ear flaps. Their long trunk is an extension of their upper lips that contains 1,50,000 muscle units and is considered one of the most sensitive organs found in any mammal. It helps them to take food to their mouth and drink water. Their long teeth help them lift food, move objects and dig soil. They have large ear flaps to maintain their body temperature and communicate with each other. The grey wrinkled skin of African elephants is rough while Asian elephants are smooth and thinner.

What do Elephants Eat

Elephants are herbivores that can eat 300 kg of food and drink 40 Lt of water daily. They spend most of their time around 16 to 19 hours to find food for their survival. Their diet mainly includes leaves, twigs, bark, fruits, roots, vegetables and grass. They use their trunk for picking their food and drinking water. Their tusks help them break and uproot trees for eating. African elephants mostly browse while Asian elephants graze.

Where do Elephants Live

Elephants are found in sub-Saharan African, South Asia and Southeast Asia in different habitats including forests, grasslands, woodlands, deserts and marshes. They usually stay near water resources to keep their body cool. Adapted to arid savana, African Savana elephants can live in the desert by consuming less vegetation and digging for underground water during drought. Their big ear flaps help them to keep their body cool in high temperatures and scorching sun. African elephant’s big fan-like ears are much bigger compared to the Asian elephants.

Interesting Facts about Elephants

Folds in elephant skin can help them retain 10 times more moisture than the plain skin. This moisture in their wrinkled skins keeps them cold and protects them from the sun.

Elephants have a special ability to communicate through seismics. They can sense vibrations through their toes that help them detect things up to 32 kms away.

A baby elephant is born after twenty-two months and weighs around 256 pounds at birth. They can stand within 20 minutes of birth.

Elephants can remember things forever and never forget as their temporal lobe(area of brain associated with memory) is much bigger and denser than humans.

Around 90% of the elephants are wiped out due to the ivory trade. Around 20,000 elephants are killed in the illegal wildlife trade as elephant tusks are used to make jewelry and artifacts.