World Elephant Day 2018
August 8th, 2018, by Katherine Watts
Did You Know…
As of 2018, there are still more African elephants being killed for ivory than are being born? In honor of World Elephant Day this Sunday, August 12th, we’re sharing our top seven facts about elephants to help prevent the extinction of these beautiful mammals.
- The African elephant weighs 22, 000 pounds
In one day, an adult elephant can consume up to 300 pounds of food. As the largest land animals, elephants roam great distances for large quantities of food to sustain their massive bodies. - An elephant’s trunk has more than 40, 000 different muscles
An elephant’s trunk is like a long nose that they use for smelling, drinking, breathing, trumpeting and for grabbing things. - After a death, elephant family members show signs of grief
Research on elephants who experience a death within their family have shown that they have a respect for their dead. Years later, elephants have been observed re-visiting the site where one of their herd or family has died - Elephant’s use their very large ears to radiate excess heat away from their body
- Elephants don’t sweat so they flap their large ears back and forth to create a light breeze that can speed up the cooling process.
- Elephants can live to be 70 years old
Many elephants aren’t living this long because of the illegal ivory trade that has elephants poached for their tusks - Elephants purr like cats to communicate
Elephants communicate in a variety of ways, but one of the most interesting ways they communicate is by producing rumbles so low that humans can’t hear them.
- Elephants are social creatures
Elephants are known to protect and comfort each other, “babysit” calves and help each other when one needs assistance moving. They are also known to sometimes “hug” each other by wrapping their trunks together.
