Elephants

Elephants are the largest land animals. Although giraffes are much taller, elephants are much much heavier. The largest elephant ever recorded was an African Elephant which weighed 7,000 pounds.

Elephants are mammals. They may not look very furry but like all mammals, elephants grow at least a little hair. They are warm blooded and feed their babies milk. Elephants are herbivore animals eating leaves, fruit, twigs, bark, grass and roots. They can consume up to 500 pounds or 225 kilos of food and they spend most of the day eating.

Elephants are easy to identify because of their big head and large flat ears with long flexible trunks. The trunk is actually a long nose about 2 metres long is a specialized organ unique to elephants. Trunks are very strong and elephants can lift very heavy loads but they are also very flexible. Elephants can suck water with its trunk and then spray it into their mouth or over their body to keep cool.

A thirsty elephant can drink up to 200 litres of water in one day.

There are two main types of elephants, the Asian elephant and the African elephant. The Asian elephant is found in south east Asia and is the smaller of the two species, they can be identified from the smaller ears and the fact that the females do not have tusks. Asian elephants live in forests, grass lands and scrub lands.

Elephants are endangered animals because they are often hunted for their ivory tusks which can be sold all over the world, and also caught for their meat and skins. Elephants are also endangered because their habitats are being destroyed. They are so large and so they need vast expanses of land to live and find food in.

People are trying their best to find a way to learn how to live with these giant mammals and keep them safe.