An adult elephant can consume up to 300 pounds (136 kilograms) of food in a single day.
These hungry animals do not sleep much.
These hungry animals do not sleep much.
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| Photo credit: Pixabay.com |
An elephant's trunk is actually a long nose used for smelling, breathing, trumpeting, drinking, and also for grabbing things—especially a potential meal. The trunk alone contains about 100,000 different muscles. African elephants have two fingerlike features on the end of their trunk that they can use to grab small items. (Asian elephants have one.)
Female elephants (cows) live in family herds with their young, but adult males (bulls) tend to roam on their own.
Having a baby elephant is a serious commitment. Elephants have a longer pregnancy than any other mammal—almost 22 months.
Cows usually give birth to one calf every two to four years. At birth, elephants already weigh some 200 pounds (91 kilograms) and stand about 3 feet (1 meter) tall.
African elephants, unlike their Asian relatives, are not easily domesticated.
The Differences between African and Asian Elephants
The most noticeable physical differences can be seen in the ears, tusks and head shapes of the two species.
African elephants are larger, heavier, have 21 ribs (compared to 20 of their Asian relatives), have bigger ears (shaped much like the continent of Africa itself) and both sexes have tusks, whereas those are reserved for a male Asian elephant only.
Asian and African elephants have very distinct head shapes. African elephants have fuller, more rounded heads and the top of their head is a single dome.
Despite these physical differences, both species of elephant are very similar socially. Both species of elephant are herd animals living within defined social structures. The herds are usually led by the oldest female, and are made up of her daughters, sisters and their offspring. Once they reach puberty, male calves leave the mother's herd and join other young males in bachelor groups. Older males tend to be solitary.
