PROJECT 1A

eLePhAnTs

• Elephants are the biggest land mammals still alive. They have been divided in two families: the elephas and the loxodonta. there are only three species of elephants still present: the african bush elephant, the african asian elephant and the asian elephant.
• The elephants can live between 50 and 70 years. The oldest known elephant lived 82 years old.
• They are the symbol of wisdom in the Asian culture and they are renowned for their great memory and intelligence.
• The word ‘elephant’ comes from the greek “ἐλέφας” which means ivory.
• The adults in good condition are said to have no natural predators except the humans which are a real threat to them.
• The Elephants live in a society with a structured social order. Females and males live very different lives. Females live their entire life in families made up by the elderly mothers, daughters and sisters. The matriarch is usually the oldest female elephant of the tribe will lead the group. The males on the other spend lives living alone and will regroup the time of mating.
• The elephant clans are composed of 5 to 15 adults and many young males and females. Groups eventually break up when there are too many members. Elders will separate and form their own clans. They keep bonds between each herd and remember being once altogether.
• When elephants travel, they walk very quietly behind each other and that too in a single line.
• Elephants are sensitive fellow animals where if a baby complains, the entire family will rumble and go over to touch and caress it.
• Elephants have greeting ceremonies when a friend that has been away for some time returns to the group.
• Elephants grieve at a loss of a stillborn baby, a family member, and in many cases other elephants.
• Elephants don't drink with their trunks, but use them as "tools" to drink with. This is accomplished by filling the trunk with water and then using it as a hose to pour it into the elephant's mouth.
• Elephants suck up water into their trunks and shoot it into their mouths, while drinking. Elephants cool off themselves by fanning their ears. Fanning cools the blood in their ears and when this blood goes to the rest of their body, it also gets cooled. Since African elephants live where the sun is usually blazing hot, they use their trunks to help them keep cool. First they squirt a trunkful of cool water over their bodies. Then they often follow that with a sprinkling of dust to create a protective layer of dirt on their skin (think elephant sunscreen!). Elephants pick up and spray dust the same way they do water—with their trunks.
• The trunk of an elephant can hold up to two gallons of water and can drink up to 80 gallons of water a day