The gentle giants of the bush, elephants are a favourite for many safari visitors. One can sit for hours watching a herd feed and interact with one another. Many rangers will tell you that elephants have their own personalities and they quickly grow attached to certain characters. A sight that may surprise any first time visitor, is how this large, bulky creature can hide behind a shrub or a tree – amazing!
Let’s share some interesting elephant facts:
- Elephants are the largest land animals in the world.
- Elephant females are cows and the males are bulls.
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| New born baby elephant |
- Elephants have the longest pregnancy of all the animals. It takes a female 22 months from conception to give birth.
- Newborn elephants can stand moments after they are born but they are born blind and rely on their mothers to guide them. It’s a funny sight watching a baby elephant learn how to use their trunks!
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| Little elephants use their trunks to explore their environment |
- Female elephants will bear young until they reach the age of 50. Twin elephant babies have been known to occur, but are extremely rare.
- The oldest elephant in the world reached the ripe old age of 82. In the wild, elephants will usually live for between 50 and 70 years.
- The elephant trunk has more than 40,000 muscles in it!
- Elephants have poor eyesight but an amazing sense of smell.
- Elephants enjoy swimming!
- Elephant tusks are elongated incisor teeth. The tusks have halved in their average length in the past 100 years due to the poaching of the larger tusked bulls.
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| Elephant trunks are very mobile! |
- The ears of an African elephant are often described as similar to the map of Africa. They are also used to control body temperature. On hot days, elephants will flap their ears, circulating the blood in the network of veins, and returning to the head and body, slightly cooler.
- Elephant feet are covered in a soft padding that help uphold their weight, prevent them from slipping and dull any sound. Therefore elephants can walk almost silently!
- When they walk, the legs on one side of their body move in unison.
- Elephants are herbivores and only digest 40% of what is consumed.
- Elephants live in two groups. The first is a family group, led by a matriarch and consists of aunts, sisters and daughters with their young. The second group is a bachelor herd consisting of young bulls who have left the family group.
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Tags: African wildlife, elephant facts, elephants, fun elephant facts, syndicated
