What is interesting about the African elephant. How many years does an elephant live? Elephants are excellent agility

The largest land mammal is the elephant.

Elephant - description and characteristics

The majestic animal has practically no enemies and does not attack anyone itself, being a herbivore. Today they can be found in the wild, in national parks and reserves, in circuses and zoos, and there are also domesticated individuals. Much is known about them: how many years elephants live, what elephants eat, how long an elephant's pregnancy lasts. And yet the secrets remain.

This animal cannot be confused with any other, since hardly any of the land mammals can boast of such dimensions. The height of this giant can reach up to 4.5 meters, and weight - up to 7 tons. The largest is the African savannah giant. Indian counterparts are somewhat lighter: weight up to 5.5 tons for males and 4.5 for females. Forest elephants are considered the lightest - up to 3 tons. In nature, there are also dwarf varieties that do not reach even 1 ton.

The elephant's skeleton is strong and can withstand such an impressive weight. The body is massive and muscular.

The head of the animal is large, with a protruding frontal zone. The adornment is his mobile ears, which perform the function of a heat regulator and a means of communication between fellow tribesmen. When attacking a herd, animals begin to actively move their ears, scaring off enemies.

The legs are also unique. Contrary to popular belief that animals are noisy and clumsy, these giants walk almost silently. There are thick fat pads on the feet that soften the step. Distinctive feature is the ability to bend the knees, the animal has two kneecaps.

Animals have a small tail ending in a non-fluffy tassel. Usually the cub holds on to it so as not to lag behind the mother.

A distinctive feature is the elephant's trunk, the mass of which in an elephant can reach up to 200 kg. This organ is a fused nose and upper lip. Consisting of over 100,000 strong muscles and tendons, the elephant's trunk has incredible flexibility and strength. They tear off the vegetation and send it to their mouths. Also, the elephant's trunk is a weapon with which he defends himself and fights with an opponent.

Through the trunk, the giants also draw in water, which is then sent to the mouth or poured over. Elephants up to a year have little control of their proboscis. For example, they cannot drink with it, but kneel down and drink with their mouths. But they hold onto their mother's tail tightly with their trunk from the first hours of their lives.

Elephant vision and hearing

Relative to the size of the animal, the eyes are small, and these giants do not differ in sharp vision. But they have excellent hearing and are able to recognize sounds even at very low frequencies.

It is believed that animals hear thunder at a distance of up to 100 km and can accurately find water at a great distance by noise.

Leather

The body of a large mammal is covered with thick gray or brown skin, dotted with many wrinkles and folds. A rare hard bristle on it is observed only in cubs. In adults, it is practically absent.

The color of the animal directly depends on the habitat, since elephants often, protecting themselves from insects, sprinkle themselves with earth and clay. Therefore, some representatives appear brown and even pink.

Among the giants is very rare, but still there are albinos. Such animals in Siam are considered cult. White elephants were taken especially for the royal families.

Jaws

The giant's decoration is his tusks: the older the animal, the longer they are. But not all of them are the same size. The Asian female elephant, for example, is completely devoid of such ornaments by nature, as well as rare males. The tusks enter the jaws and are considered incisors.

How many years an elephant lives can be recognized by its teeth, which wear down over the years, but at the same time new ones appear, growing behind the old ones. It is known how many teeth an elephant has in its mouth. As a rule, 4 indigenous.

It was the tusks of these giants that were highly valued, which led to the cruel extermination of the proboscis. Now hunting is strictly prohibited: the animal is listed in the Red Book. And the places where the elephant lives are declared nature reserves.

Indian elephant and African elephant have external differences, we will talk about them in the sequel.

Elephant species

In our time, there are only two types of proboscis: the African elephant and Indian elephant(otherwise it is called the Asian elephant). African, in turn, are divided into savannas living along the equator (the most major representatives- up to 4.5 m in height and 7 tons of weight) and forest (its subspecies are dwarf and marsh), which prefer to live in tropical forests.

Despite the undeniable similarities of these animals, they still have a number of differences.

It is very simple to answer the question which elephant is larger in size and mass: Indian or African. The one that lives in Africa: individuals weigh 1.5-2 tons more, and much higher.
The Asian female elephant does not have tusks, while African ones have them in all individuals.
The species differ slightly in the shape of the body: in Asians, the back is higher relative to the level of the head.
The African animal is distinguished by its large ears.
The trunks of African giants are somewhat thinner.
By its nature, the Indian elephant is more prone to domestication; it is almost impossible to tame its African counterpart.

It is Asian animals that are often accepted into circuses for their obedience and good disposition. Basically, these are rescued from poachers, sick and abandoned cubs.

When crossing the African and Indian proboscis, the offspring does not work out, which indicates differences at the genetic level.

The life expectancy of an elephant depends on living conditions, the availability of sufficient food and water. It is believed that the African elephant lives somewhat longer than its counterpart.

Ancient relatives of the proboscis appeared on earth approximately 65 million years ago, in the Paleocene era. Dinosaurs were still walking the planet at that time.

Scientists have found that the first representatives lived on the territory of modern Egypt and looked more like a tapir. There is another theory according to which the current giants descended from some animal that lived in Africa and almost all of Eurasia.

Studies that reveal how many years an elephant lives on our planet indicate the existence of its ancestors.

Deinotherium. Appeared approximately 58 million years ago and died out 2.5 million years ago. Outwardly, they were similar to modern animals, but were noted for their smaller size and shorter trunk.
Gomphotheria. Appeared on earth about 37 million years ago and died out 10 thousand years ago. Their body resembled the current long-nosed giants, but they had 4 small tusks, twisted up and down in pairs, and a flat jaw. At some stage of development, the tusks of these animals became much larger.
Mamutids (mastodons). Appeared 10-12 million years ago. They had dense hair on their bodies, long tusks and a trunk. They died out 18 thousand years ago, with the advent of primitive people.
Mammoths. The first representatives of elephants. Appeared from mastodons approximately 1.6 million years ago. They died out about 10 thousand years ago. They were slightly taller than modern animals, the body is covered with long and dense hair, they had large tusks down.

Mammoths belong to the same order of elephants as modern giants.

The African elephant and the Indian elephant are the only representatives of the proboscis order that exist on Earth.

Where do elephants live?

African elephant dwells south of the desert Sahara, in the territory of many African countries: Congo, Zambia, Kenya, Namibia, Somalia, Sudan and others. Enough hot climate the places where the elephant lives are to his liking. More often they choose savannas, where there is enough vegetation and water can be found. Animals practically do not enter deserts and impenetrable tropical forests.

AT recent times the habitat of the giants has shrunk. The places where the elephant lives are turned into national reserves in order to preserve the population of these animals, protecting them from poachers.

But the Indian elephant, on the contrary, prefers the wooded areas of India, Vietnam, Thailand, China, Laos and Sri Lanka. He feels comfortable among dense shrubs and in bamboo thickets. Once this Asian elephant lived in almost all areas of southern Asia, but now the populations have been greatly reduced.

The Indian elephant can live even in remote jungles. It is in this area that most of the wild individuals have been preserved. But it can be quite difficult to determine how many years an elephant lives.

The lifespan of an elephant in the wild is much shorter than that of its domesticated counterparts or those that live in zoos or national reserves. This is due to the difficult conditions of the places where the elephant lives, with diseases and the cruel extermination of giants.

Scientists are still arguing how long a wild elephant lives and what is the duration of their life in captivity.

Undoubtedly, how many years an elephant lives determines the species to which the mammal belongs. African savannahs live the longest: among them there are individuals whose age reached 80 years. Forest African proboscideans are somewhat smaller - 65-70 years old. An Asian elephant at home or in zoos and national parks can live 55-60 years, in natural environment Long-livers are animals that have reached the age of 50.

How long elephants live depends on the care of the animal. A wounded and sick beast will not be able to live long. Sometimes even minor damage to the trunk or foot causes death. Under human supervision, many diseases of giants are easily treated, which can significantly prolong life.

In the natural environment, animals have practically no enemies. Predatory beasts attack only stray cubs and sick individuals.

Being herbivores, proboscideans spend more than 15 hours a day in search of food. To maintain their huge body mass, they have to eat from 40 to 400 kg of vegetation per day.

What elephants eat directly depends on their habitat: it can be grass, leaves, young shoots. The elephant's trunk rips them off and sends them to the mouth, where the food is carefully ground.

In captivity, an elephant eats hay (up to 20 kg per day), vegetables, especially carrots and cabbage, a variety of fruits, and grains.

How many years an elephant lives depends on what elephants eat. Zoo visitors often feed animals with contraindicated food. Sweets are strictly forbidden to huge mammals.

Sometimes wild animals wander into the fields local residents and gladly eat the harvest of corn, cane, cereals.

Animals are very social: they unite in herds, headed by the oldest and most experienced female. She leads her relatives to food places, keeps order.

Scientists have come to interesting conclusions. All individuals are relatives. As a rule, these are females and immature males. Adult boys leave their family and often live alone or in the company of the same bachelors. They approach family herds only when they are ready to have offspring and at the call of females.

Animals have very developed family instincts: each has its own role. The whole family is involved in raising children. In the event of an attack by predators, elephants are surrounded by a dense ring and drive away enemies. Unfortunately, how many years an elephant lives depends on whether the family was able to keep all their offspring. Babies quite often die from diseases, weakness and from attacks by predators (lions, cheetahs, hyenas, crocodiles).

Giants need to survive a large number of water. They can drink up to 200 liters per day, so animals try to stay close to water bodies. In dry times, they know how to dig wells, which saves not only themselves, but also many other animals.

Elephant mammals are very peaceful animals. Cases of their attacks on other animals are extremely rare. They can suffer from them only when the giants, frightened by something, trample down those who get in their way.

Before death, old animals go to a certain place, the “elephant cemetery”, where many relatives died, and spend their lives there. last days. The rest of the family see them off and say goodbye very touchingly.

Animals become sexually mature in different ways: males at the age of 14-15 years, females - 12-13.

Sometimes this age may vary depending on the amount of food and health status.

Several suitors come to the call of the female and her smell, they sometimes arrange fights, during which it is determined which male will remain. The elephant watches the challengers and after the end of the battle leaves with the winner. Elephant mating takes place at a distance from the herd, after which the couple can walk together for several more days. Then the male leaves, and the female returns to her family.

It is quite interesting how many pregnant elephants walk. Elephants bear their cubs for a long time: 22-24 months. The gestation period of an elephant is counted from the moment of mating. Pregnant females live with their herd, and males never appear nearby.

Compared to other mammals, elephant pregnancy lasts a record time: they bear cubs for almost two years. The large size of the females sometimes does not allow you to immediately see their interesting position, so you can only calculate how many elephants have already been carrying their cubs from the moment of mating.

The pregnancy of an elephant usually ends with the birth of one, less often two elephants, which weigh up to a centner. Future mom departs from the herd accompanied by an experienced female and gives birth to a baby, who after 2-3 hours can stand on his feet and suck milk. The newly-made mother returns to her herd with a baby elephant holding on to her tail.

Elephants bear their cubs for a very long time, so their populations, subject to cruel extermination, for a long time were in danger of extinction.

How many years a male elephant lives in a herd is determined by the onset of puberty. Young males leave families and live alone. But the females remain in the herd until the end of their days.

Among elephants, as among people, there are left-handers and right-handers. You can understand this by the tusks: the tusk will be longer on the side with which it works more often.

These majestic animals are often found on the coats of arms of states (Congo, India). The image of a giant mammal was also on the family coat of arms of the famous great-grandfather of A. S. Pushkin, Abram Gannibal.
Elephants are so dexterous with their trunk that they can easily pick up a tiny or fragile object from the ground and not spoil it. With the same trunk they will convey to right place felled tree.
Some giants paint pictures that have a very high price.
Injury to the trunk most often leads to the death of the animal.
Elephants love to swim and swim fast enough.
The usual speed of the giant when walking is 4-5 km / h, but when running, it reaches speeds of up to 50 km / h.
The story that elephants are afraid of mice is pure fiction. Rodents do not make any holes in the feet, and even more so they cannot eat the giant from the inside. But animals won't touch food if mice run over it. Therefore, to say that elephants are afraid of mice is wrong; rather, they disdain them.

In some countries, these animals are considered sacred. Murder is even punishable by death.

The African elephant is recognized as the largest mammal that lives on Earth. How much strength and power is collected in this animal! Even more interesting facts you can learn about elephants from this article.

1. The most important difference between female Indian elephants and males is the absence of tusks. In some cases, they are, but remain invisible. The tusks of male Indian elephants reach one and a half meters in length.
2. Elephant tusk size is a genetic trait. Elephants with very large tusks do not exist today. Many thousands of years ago they were destroyed by hunters. Elephant tusks in the modern animal world are small or completely absent. At the same time, a third of their length is hidden in the skull.

3. Elephants, like people, can be right-handed and left-handed. Only instead of hands they differ in tusks. Over the course of their lives, elephants adapt to use more than one tusk - right or left. They use it to carry weights, dig the ground in search of food, fight.
4. The average amount of food that an elephant eats per day is 300 kilograms. As for the amount of water drunk, they vary. Depending on the humidity of the air, an elephant can drink from 100 to 300 liters per day.

5. An elephant's trunk can hold about 8 liters of water. To get drunk, the animal draws water into the cavity of the trunk, then turns it inside out, bringing the tip to the mouth, and blows out the life-giving moisture.
6. When hunger strikes in a herd of elephants, all the animals disperse and feed separately.

7. The leaders in the herd of elephants, in most cases, are female elephants. In one such family, there are about 15 elephants with calves, young elephants and one old one. But in Africa, scientists often record cases when elephants gather in a herd in the hundreds, or even thousands.
8. When elephants meet, they greet each other with a special ritual: they wrap their trunks around each other.

9. Elephants are very friendly animals. In addition to greeting at a meeting, they help little elephants. Just as a human child clings to its mother's hand, so the baby elephant clings to the elephant with its trunk. If an elephant from the herd sees a slipping baby elephant, he will immediately help him.
10. Interesting facts about elephants also relate to their ability to show emotions. These animals are sad if something is wrong in their herd, and rejoice, for example, if a baby elephant is born. Elephants can even smile.

11. Elephants communicate with each other at very low frequencies that are not audible to humans. This allows them to talk at a distance of several kilometers.
12. Not only ears allow elephants to hear. They can even pick up ultra-low-frequency noises with their feet.

13. Did you know that a 30 kg elephant heart beats at about 30 beats per minute? For comparison: the heart of a healthy adult makes 70 beats in the same period of time.
14. September 22 is World Elephant Day.
15. Elephants live about 70-80 years. Interestingly, females can produce offspring up to 50 years old.

16. An elephant's trunk consists of half a thousand muscles. To learn how to manage all of them, the baby elephant spends two years of his life.
17. The ears of each elephant have a unique and inimitable border.

18. A newborn baby elephant weighs about 100 kilograms. And the pregnancy of these large animals lasts almost 2 years and is 22 months.
19. Baby elephants, like people, are born without teeth. Then they have milk tusks, which are replaced by permanent ones.

20. The brain of an adult elephant weighs about 5 kilograms. This is the most big weight of this body among representatives of all terrestrial animals. Therefore, elephants are quite different complex behavior and rich emotional state.

Interesting video about elephants. In the kingdom of elephants:

In ancient times, elephants were distributed over large areas of the planet. But so far they have been able to survive only on the African continent and in some Asian countries. Animals are divided into two known species- African and Indian.

In turn, two subspecies live in Africa - the forest elephant and the savanna. The main difference between the species is in the shape of the ears: in the first they are rounded, and in the second they look like triangles. The Indian elephant is the smallest of them, he has small tusks and ears, in addition, he is the owner of two protruding bumps on his forehead. In addition, they walk with a straighter head than their relatives from the savannah, they do not have a protruding upper lip. And female Indian elephants are distinguished from males by the absence of tusks, in which they are sometimes more than a meter in length.

These animals, despite their huge growth and great power, for the most part, are quite peaceful and kind. Plus, elephants are very smart. They always attract the attention of people of all ages. But of course, interesting facts about elephants for children are especially curious.

Uncle Jumbo is a giant

The most famous and largest elephant was called Jumbo. He was born at the end of the nineteenth century, then he was sold to a French zoo. After that, he spent some time in the UK Zoo. His popularity among the inhabitants of this country was truly enormous.

When it was decided to send him to the United States, British Queen received 100,000 letters from children asking them not to separate them from the elephant. In America, an elephant died when he was just over 20 years old. The age is young for this animal, but death occurred as a result of a tragic accident. The height of Jumbo reached four meters.

African elephant, interesting facts for children

An animal disturbed by something can run at a speed of up to 50 km / h, while its tail is raised - a kind of signal to the herd about danger.
Elephants are excellent swimmers.
The heaviest elephant on record was taken in Africa in 1974, weighing 12.2 tons. More about the weight of elephants different types can be read in the article.

Oh, and appetite!

The gluttony of an elephant can be envied, for a day he eats an average of 3 centners of plant food. To get enough, he needs to search for food and spend time on food for almost a day - only 4 hours he rests.

At the same time, he sleeps without lying on the ground, with the exception of the sick and the young. He also needs a large amount of water, of course, here the volumes can vary greatly from what the humidity will be. However, on average, this amount is 200 liters per day.

"Ears" on top

Another interesting fact about the African elephant is its large ears. So, in an adult animal, they reach 2 meters in length and 4 in width. Such huge ears are not even a mistake or a mockery of nature. This is not even explained by the fact that they allow him to hear well.

They have another, no less important role - to help the elephant in hot weather. Having such colossal ears, the elephant uses them instead of a fan - methodically swings them and thereby creates a chill for himself. Which is very important when he wanders under the merciless African sun.

Who is there in the mirror? I!!!

Elephants are considered one of the most intelligent creatures on the planet. Even in ancient times, he spoke of them as animals superior to all others in intelligence and wit.

In addition to the amazing ability to have fun, grieve, compassion, master the commands of the trainer, he is able to recognize himself in the mirror. And this only indicates that elephants have a sense of self-awareness.

Hug, brother, trunks

Elephants, like people, express greetings to each other. But if a person has a hand for this action, then in the communication of these animals a very significant role of tactile contact is played by the trunk.

He helps them express their feelings. It is this organ, with which they wrap themselves around each other and stroke, that can say a lot about the intentions of an elephant's comrade or girlfriend.

Hold on to your tail, baby!

Elephants are not only kind animals. Besides the fact that they are able to express their feelings with greetings, they are always ready to help their relative, not to mention children. Researchers have repeatedly observed such a feature from the life of elephants as helping their loved ones.

Any elephant from the herd who sees a fallen baby elephant will definitely come to the rescue and do everything possible to get him up. It is amazing and touching to watch little elephants clinging to the tail of elephants with their trunks, as if human babies are holding on to their mother's hand.

Jumping for joy

They also talk about amazing ability express emotional experiences. It is natural for animals to feel sad when they notice that things are not going smoothly in their community. They can sincerely rejoice when a baby elephant is born, they literally jump for joy.

Elephants lead a herd life and suffer from separation anxiety. When an elephant loses her baby for some reason, she suffers for 20 years. Elephants worry if someone in the herd gets sick and dies. But this should be said separately and a little later. An amazing phenomenon when animals smile, and they are capable of this.

Talk to me, elephant

The brain of elephants weighs more than five kilograms, it is more complex than that of other animals, not counting only whales. They have excellent memories and developed intellect. Suffice it to say that they have a high ability to remember human speech and imitate it. An example is Kaushik, the Asian elephant.

The researchers note that he perfectly imitates human speech, and to be more precise, he pronounces a few words. For example, approving - choah (good), annyong (hello), command - anja (sit), nuo (lie down), forbidding - aniya (no). According to observers, for Kaushik these words are not a thoughtless repetition of them, but a very clear understanding of what he is talking about.

trunk artist

In its dexterity, the elephant's trunk resembles an octopus tentacle. It is made up of many hundreds of muscles. Having learned to manage them, and it takes two years to learn, the elephant is able to master any simple tricks movements that are inherent in the human hand.

Thanks to this, many animals were able to learn to draw and even open locks. The trunk can hold almost eight liters of water. To quench his thirst, the elephant draws water into it, and then brings it to his mouth.

Another Indian elephant doing research wildlife. This incredible event literally stunned everyone. In one of the national parks of India, the friendship of an elephant with a lizard was witnessed, which he caught and always carried with him.

Such relationships, when a mighty animal treats a smaller creature with reverence and tenderness, sometimes occur in life. This is well described, for example, in the story "The Lion and the Dog". About the friendship of an elephant and a lizard, a lot of pictures were taken by photographer Jagdeep Rajput.

Funeral like people

It is unlikely that anyone has ever managed to see elephant cemeteries. However, man and elephants and humans are currently the only living creatures on earth that do justice to those who die. Moreover, they take care of a sick relative, deliver food.

And when he gives up his spirit, the elephants try to bring him back to life for some time, bringing food and water. After that, when they realize that all their efforts are useless, they begin to dig a small grave and cover it with vegetation. Possessing sensitive hearts, they slightly raise their trunks and begin to trumpet. For a few more days they can sit silently at the grave.

There were cases when these amazing animals tried to bury people in the same way, taking only a sleeping person for a dead person.

Savanna centenarians

As a rule, the lifespan of an elephant in vivo less than in captivity and can be up to 70 years old. However, among these animals there are centenarians. For example, one war elephant lived up to 85 years Chinese army. And females are capable of giving birth even at the age of fifty.

The story about these amazing animals came to an end, where interesting facts about elephants for children, adults and just nature lovers were given. In addition, there are elephant seals in nature. What kind of animals, you will learn from the next chapter.

Marine "namesake"

They belong to pinnipeds and appearance have nothing to do with elephants that live on land. But with seals they have a great resemblance. They differ only in size: the sea elephant is larger, in addition, it has a trunk - a skin process in the nose area, reaching a length of 30 centimeters. For this trunk they got their name.

The main habitat of elephant seals is the southern hemisphere of the earth. Despite their attachment to the subantarctic zone, you can see animals in the Arctic. Colonies are often found on McDonald, Crozet Islands, the Kerlegen Archipelago, and in the islands and peninsulas of West Antarctica.

Sea elephant: interesting facts

This animal is the largest predator on the planet. The weight of a male can be equal to the weight of an Indian elephant - 5 tons, and the length - 5 meters. His diet mainly includes squid, rarely he prefers to treat himself to fish and krill.
Only for three weeks, elephant seals go to the beach rookery to find a mate for procreation. The remaining three hundred days are continuous swimming.

Being in the water marine predators sometimes dive to a depth of 2 km. And their trips are long-distance - they overcome 10,000 km of water space all the time. Under water, thanks to oxygenated blood, they can stay for two hours. And he has a lot of blood - a fifth of the mass of the animal. By the way, in humans, this figure is three times less.
cub sea giant called a puppy, although they have a length of more than a meter, and a weight of half a centner. They feed on mother's milk, and the female is near them inseparably, not even leaving to search for food. And so the month continues.

There are approximately 800,000 elephant seals around the world today, with a significant proportion living in the area of South Georgia Island.
Elephant seals live, unlike their earthly "namesakes", much less - on average, no more than 20 years, females even less - 10-15 years.

Both African and Indian elephants are listed in the Red Book. sea elephants were on the verge of extinction, until in the middle of the twentieth century it was created international convention who took care of them.

Traditionally, there are two types of elephants: Asian and African. Unfortunately, due to many reasons, such as poaching and habitat destruction, the population of these majestic animals is steadily declining.

Elephants are the largest land animals found in Southeast Asia and Africa in tropical forests and savannahs. Traditionally, there are two types of elephants: Asian and African.Unfortunately, due to many reasons, such as poaching and habitat destruction, the population of these majestic animals is steadily declining.

Believe me, there is still a lot you do not know about these beautiful, intelligent and peaceful mammals:

1. Female elephants can produce offspring up to 50 years old every 2-4 years. Typically, twinselephants are rarely born, more often one baby elephant is born. Elephant females have the longest periodpregnancy from all mammals - 22 months.

2. Most big elephant in the world weighed a record 12 thousand kilograms, and reached a height of as much as four meters.

3. Unlike most mammals, in which milk teeth change to permanent teeth, only oneSince elephants are polyphyodonts, that is, they change their teeth throughout their lives.

4. Along with humans, monkeys, magpies and dolphins, elephants can recognize themselves in the mirror.

5. Elephants can receive seismic signals using sensitive cells in their legs. These vibrationscaused by impacts on the ground, pass into the middle ear of the elephant through the bones of the forelimbs. Catchinga seismic alarm signal, the elephant learns about the approach of a predator and becomes in a protective stance.

6. Elephants are the largest animals in the world, but compared to whales, theymore like gnomes. For comparison: the tongue of a blue whale weighs as much as one adult elephant.

7. Elephants can only move forward or backward and cannot gallop or jump. Elephant -such a heavy animal that it is unable to lift all four limbs off the ground simultaneously.

8. Contrary to popular myth, elephants are not afraid of mice. However, they are afraid of ants and bees. ATAs a result, farmers in some African countries use bee hives to protect their fields from elephant raids.

9. Hyraxes are the closest relatives of modern elephants. These small, dense, herbivoresmammals are often mistaken for rodents.

10. Elephants, like people, are capable of very wide range emotions. They experience a sense of loss, grief,also capable of crying. Elephants remember and mourn their loved ones even many years aftertheir deaths. When a man named Lawrence Anthony died, the author of The Elephant's Whisper, who saved the lives of manyanimals, a whole herd of elephants came to his house to say goodbye to their friend.

11. Elephants make several types of sounds, the most famous of which is a loud trumpet sound. So elephantsshow that they are worried, grieving or showing aggression. Elephants can hear each otherdistance up to 10 kilometers.

12. It is popularly believed that elephants have an excellently developed rumple. This assertion hasreal basis. The fact is that elephants form an image of a familiar spatial environment, socalled a cognitive map. The presence of a good memory in elephants is also indicated by their abilitytrack the whereabouts of members of your family group.

13. An elephant's trunk has over 40,000 muscles. Despite the fact that the elephant trunk is very large (its weightis about 180 kilograms), the elephant is very clever with it and can capture very smallthings like rice grains.

14. The main reason for the mass killings of elephants by poachers is their tusks. Although scientists have long proventhat the tusks are made of dentine, a substance similar to bone and having no valuable properties.

15. Stories that elephants, eating the ripe fruits of the marula tree, get drunk and begin to rage, arepure myths. Animals do not pick up overripe fruits that have fallen to the ground, in whichcontains the most alcohol. Even if an elephant takes a marula fruit, it will need to eat about 1400pieces to get drunk.

Few animals on our planet have been mourned, mythologised, and extolled as much as Africa and Asia. In this article, you will learn 10 interesting and amazing facts about elephants, from how these thick-skinned mammals use their trunks to how long females carry their young.

1. There are 3 different living species of elephants

bush elephant

All representatives of the elephant family are divided into 3 species: African bush elephant ( Loxodonta africana), African forest elephant ( Loxodonta cyclotis) and Asian or Indian elephant ( Elephas maximus). African elephants are much larger than Asian elephants and adult males can weigh up to 7 tons (which makes them ). The Asian elephant weighs a little less, about 5 tons.

Incidentally, the African forest elephant was once thought to be a subspecies of the African bush elephant, but genetic analysis suggests that the two elephant species diverged somewhere between two and seven million years ago.

2. The elephant's trunk is a universal part of the body

Apart from huge size, the most noticeable part of the elephant's body is its trunk, which looks like an extremely elongated nose and upper lip. Elephants not only use their trunks to breathe, smell and eat, they can grab tree branches, lift objects weighing up to 350 kg, stroke other elephants, dig the ground for water and shower themselves. contains more than 100,000 muscle fibers, which make it an amazingly delicate and precise instrument, for example, an elephant can use its trunk to peel a peanut without damaging the kernel located inside, or wipe dirt from its eyes, or clean other parts of the body.

3 Ears Help Elephants Cool Down

Considering how huge they are, and how hot they are, humid climate elephants live, these animals in the process have adapted to regulate their body temperature. An elephant can't flap its ears to fly (a la Disney's Dumbo), however big square the surface of its ears contains a dense network of blood vessels that radiate heat into and thus help to cool the body in the blazing sun. No wonder that big ears elephants have another evolutionary advantage: under ideal conditions, an African or Asian elephant can hear the call of a sick relative from a distance of more than 8 km, as well as the approach of any that can threaten the cubs of the herd.

4. Elephants are extremely intelligent animals

AT literally In other words, elephants have up to 5.5 kg in adult males, compared to 1-2 kg for the average human (however, the brain of an elephant is much smaller than a human, in terms of body weight). Elephants not only know how to use their trunk as a tool, but also demonstrate a high degree self-awareness (for example, recognizing oneself in a mirror) and empathy for other members of the herd. Some elephants even stroked the bones of their dead relatives, although naturalists disagree whether this proves a primitive understanding of death.

5. The main female in the herd

Elephants have developed a unique social structure: in fact, males and females live completely separately, meeting only briefly during the breeding season. Three or four females, along with their cubs, gather in a herd (about 12 individuals), while males either live alone or form smaller herds with other males (savannah elephants sometimes gather in larger groups of more than 100 individuals) . Female herds have a matriarchal structure: all representatives follow the leader (the oldest female), and when the main female dies, the next oldest female elephant takes her place. Like humans (at least in most cases), experienced females are renowned for their wisdom and teaching other members of the herd.

6. Pregnancy in a female lasts almost 2 years

African elephants have the longest gestation period among all land mammals, it is 22 months (although among those that have the longest period of gestation of embryos, the frilled shark is in the lead, whose gestation period exceeds 2 years, and according to some sources it is not less than 3.5 years!) Newborn elephants weigh over 100 kg at birth. The female brings offspring every 4-5 years.

7 Elephants Have Evolved Over 50 Million Years

Elephants and their ancestors used to be much more common than they are today. As far as fossil evidence can tell, the ultimate progenitor of all elephants was a tiny, pig-like phosphaterium ( Phosphatherium) who lived in North Africa about 50 million years ago. Tens of millions of years later, by late, more recognizable "elephant hamsters" such as phiomias ( Phiomia) and bariteria ( Barytherium) represented pachyderms on land. By later, some branches of the elephant family were characterized by their false lower fangs, and the golden age was, a million years ago, when the North American mastodon and woolly roamed the expanses North America and Eurasia. Today, oddly enough, the closest living relatives of elephants are dugongs and manatees.

8. Elephants are an important part of their ecosystems

Like it or not, elephants have an important influence on them. They uproot trees, compact the ground under their feet, and even deliberately widen water holes to take relaxing baths. Such activities benefit not only the elephants themselves, but also other animals that take advantage of these habitat changes. For example, African elephants are known to dig caves on the sides of Mount Elgon on the Kenya/Uganda border, which are then used as shelter. bats, insects and smaller mammals. When elephants eat in one place and defecate in another, they function as important seed carriers. Many plants, trees and shrubs will find it difficult to survive if their seeds are not present in elephant dung.

9 Elephants Were Used In War

There is nothing more impressive than a five-ton elephant adorned with elaborate armor, with sharp spears attached to its tusks. The use of animals in warfare was a way of instilling fear in the enemy - or at least nothing else existed over 2,000 years ago when pachyderms were drafted into the ranks of armies. The use of war elephants peaked around 400-300 BC. and continued until the invasion of Rome through the Alps in 217 BC. After that, elephants were still used in the civilizations of the Mediterranean basin, and were also common among Indian and Asian warlords. However, at the end of the 15th century, when gunpowder began to be used, the elephant could easily fall after being shot.

10. Elephants continue to be endangered by the ivory trade.

Elephants, like other defenseless animals, face many threats: pollution, habitat destruction and the encroachment of human civilization. They are especially vulnerable to poachers, who value these mammals for the ivory contained in their tusks. In 1990, a worldwide ban on the ivory trade resulted in the conservation of some African elephant populations, but poachers in Africa continued to defy the law. One positive development is China's recent decision to ban the import and export of ivory; it didn't completely eliminate poaching by ruthless ivory traders, but it certainly helped. Elephants are currently endangered.

If you find an error, please highlight a piece of text and click Ctrl+Enter.