Species

At one point there was over 350 species!

There are now two species left. 

The Africa Elephant have extremely large ears. 

The Asian Elephant have small ears and the females don't grow tusks. 

Feeding

Elephants are herbivores which means they only eat plants. They are able to grab food from the tops of the trees to the bushes on the ground because of their trunk and size. 

Elephants only process about 40% of what they eat as the rest of it never gets digested. They can consume up to 600 pounds of food per day and consume up to 15 quarts of water at one time! 

Elephant Anatomy 

There are more than 40,000 muscles found in a single elephant trunk.

They have sharp teeth that allow them to tear various types of plants and then to chew them up. The tusks of an elephant are actually part of their teeth. 

The brain for an elephant is about 11 pounds. It is believed that they have 35% of the mass of it completed when they are born. The skin of the elephant is extremely thick, about 1 inch thick and is covered in little tiny hairs all over. 

Reproduction 

Female elephants have offspring from 14 years of age to 50. The older males that are from 40 to 50 years of age are the most likely to breed with the females.

Elephants hold the record for the longest duration of time from conception to birth (22months). Weighing up to 260 pounds when born, elephants are also born blind and can drink up to 10 gallons of milk a day! 

https://youtu.be/gVjqL-9Fh3E

Conservation

The numbers of elephants have dropped dramatically and will continue to drop if laws don't become more strict when people are found trying to kill elephants for their tusks. It is still legal in some areas in Africa to kill elephants.

The destruction of their habitat has also become a very serious problem. Without elephants dung beetles and termites will not survive. With elephants walking through tall grass and making little bugs visible the birds are able to eat also. These are just some of the many things elephants help keep alive.

Fun Facts

The heaviest elephant in the world weighed 26,000 pounds.

Elephants are the largest of all land animals in the world.

Elephants love to swim.

Elephants tusks can weigh up to 200 pounds and grow up to 10 feet long.

Elephants have the largest brain of any other animal in the world.

Elephants feed for up to 16 hours a day.