The word “elephant” comes from the Greek word eléfas, meaning “elephant” or “ivory”. Elephants are the largest terrestrial animals on earth. They also have the largest brains. Elephants evolved in the Pleistocene epoch, i.e. 2 millions to 10,000 years ago. They belong to the family Elephantidae, which comprises of three species: the Forest Elephant, the Savannah Elephant and the Asian Elephant. The Forest Elephant and the Savannah Elephant are commonly known as the African Elephant, whereas the Asian Elephant is known as the Indian Elephant.
Interesting Facts about Elephants
The most characteristic feature of elephants is their elongated “trunk” or “proboscis”, which is a fusion of nose and upper lip. Sometimes the elephant’s trunk is described as the longest nose (up to 8 feet). It has been found out that an elephant trunk has more than 40,000 muscles. The trunk is used for various purposes such as feeding, drinking, defending, interaction with others and also as a sensory organ.
“Tusk” or “ivory”, which is another extraordinary feature of an elephant, is nothing but the second upper incisor that grows continuously. It is one of the hereditary characters in elephants. An elephant may be either right-tusked or left-tusked. Tusks are mainly used as weapons. Tusks of an African Elephant can grow up to 10 feet long and can weigh up to 90 kilograms, whereas tusks of an Asian Elephant vary according to sex, female shows short or no tusk while male have lean tusk, which may be of 10 feet long and around 40 kilograms weight.
African Elephants are much bigger in size, possess two finger-like projections in their trunk, have flat forehead and have large ears and tusks, whereas in comparison, Asian Elephants are smaller in size, possess only one finger-like projection in their trunk, have two bumps on their forehead and have smaller ears and tusks.
Skin of elephant is about 2.5 cm thick and covered with light hairs, color of hair vary from grey to brown. Usually brown color is due to wallowing in dust or mud. Elephants usually wallow in mud to generate heat and also to protect from harmful rays and insects. The African elephants use their ears to aid in ventilation in maintaining temperature.
Elephants are herbivores and eat about 5% of their body weight. They spend nearly 16 hours a day in eating, however only 40% of the ingested food gets digested. They drink about 30-50 gallons of water.
An interesting phenomenon about elephants is their cycle of tooth rotation. An elephant can have 28 teeth in its entire life, which are 2 milk precursors of the tusk, 2 second upper incisor teeth, i.e. tusks, 12 premolar teeth and 12 molar teeth.
Females mature at about 11 years of age and stay in herds with the other older females, whereas males mature between 12 to 15 years of age and stay solitarily. Adult female elephant is called “cow” and adult male elephant is called “bull”. The sexual features are not so distinct for both males and females, and are often confused during identification. Male possesses internal testes, which can’t be seen and female possesses two teats between her front legs. Usually females are identified by their pronounced forehead, which is not present in case of males.
A male elephant mates with a female elephant at around 20 years of age. Before mating, a male elephant secretes a strong-smelling urine, which attracts compatible females. Sometimes, they communicate with a rumbling sound for mating.
Are you aware about the gestation period of elephant? Well, it would be 22 months, which is the longest of all the existing land animals. One calf is born at a time (very rarely twins). The young calf is nearly blind. It uses its trunk to explore its surroundings and relies on elders of that certain group. At birth, an elephant calf weighs about 100-120 kilograms and is about 2.5 feet tall. An elephant calf lives with its mother for many years.
Elephants are associated with many cultures. Asian cultures represented elephant as a symbol of “wisdom”, especially for their memory and intelligence. They are regarded as a very social, emotional and intelligent group. The entire herd takes care of the calves and protects them from danger. Often they grieve when any member of their group dies.
An elephant may live as long as 60-70 years. However, the oldest recorded elephant is 82 years.
These are some of the interesting facts about elephants. In fact, they are quite gentle and have no natural enemies. But, in spite of their calmness and non-disturbing character, it is very unfortunate to say that elephants have been listed as an “endangered animal” because of their declining population. Both the African Elephant and the Asian Elephant are included in the endangered species list. Their population decreases mainly because of habitat loss and human poaching for ivory and flesh. Under Wildlife Conservation, the “African Elephant Conservation Act of 1989″ and the “Asian Elephant Conservation Act of 1997″ have been passed in order to conserve the natural habitats and protect the elephants. Strict laws have been enforced to stop trading of elephants.
