WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT ELEPHANTS?
Hello everyone, hope your day was well spent. Today i caught up with one of my favourite programs. National Geographic Channel aka Natgeowild. Today was all about elephants. Such magnificent and majestic creatures. With all the strength they pack as the largest terrestrial mammals on earth, they are still very calm. Today i want to share with you 10 facts about elephants.
1- The word elephant is gotten from the greek word elephas which means ivory. The tusks of elephants contain this compound, thus making them an endangered species as they are being poached around the world. Although scientists say the tusk also contains dentine , a tissue similar to bone and has no special effects.
2-Besides being the largest terrestrial mammals, there are just three distinct species left in the world. The forest and Savannah species in Africa and the Asian elephant.
3- The gestation period of an elephants is the longest amongst terrestrial animals, coming in at 22 months. A new born baby is said to weigh an average of 7 pounds but a new born elephants weighs as much as 260 pounds and can walk shortly after birth. Elephants have one child at a time over a period of one to two years. Amazing... I know.
4- The average life span of an elephant is 50 to 70 years. The oldest elephant lived for 86 years, (1917-2003) while the largest elephant was shot in Angola in 1956 and weighed 24000 pounds with a shoulder height of 3.96meters.
5- The tusks of an elephant are modified incisors which grow throughout the life of an elephant. An adult males tusk grows as much as 7 inches a year. Remarkable! The tusks are used to dig for water, salt, roots, to debark trees, tear down trees and also mark trees to show their territory. It is also used for the occasional fighting.
6- The trunk of an elephant, this is its most important limb. It is a fusion of its nose and upper lip. Its is soft and delicate enough to pick up a blade of leaf and strong enough to rip the branches of a tree owing to the over 40,000 muscles in its trunk. It is also used for drinking water. The trunk suck in as much as 14 litres of water and it blows it into its mouth.
It also uses its trunk to bath by pouring water and mud on itself. The mud acts as sunscreen when it dries.
7- As mighty creatures as they are, they do not run, gallop, or trot. They gait. They have two gaits. One which is just walking and the second which is similar to running. However they can swim and make use of their trunks as a snorkel.
8- The elephant ears are not big for nothing neither are they just for hearing. They are used to radiate heat away fron the elephant.
9- An elephants behaveis unlike what we know. They have an intelligence that's associated with compassion, grief, self-awareness, play, art and music. This is true as elephants as known to stop for a moment when they pass through an elephant burial ground. They actually mourn their dead. They are known to have excellent memory as they probably have cognitive maps which aid in remembering places. Amazing...
10- Finally, there is a structured order in the lifestyle of an elephant. For instance, females spend their entire life staying in tight knit family groups made up of grandmothers, sisters, aunts and daughters. The oldest always leads thr group. As for males they live the bachelor's lifestyle.
Thats it for tonight
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Thanks for the insight about elephants, i didn't know elephants also mourn, that's really interesting.
I also heard they can perceive any water body from a mile away