Elephants
An elephant herd in Kenya
Image: pixabay.com
1 Elephants are descended from mammoths
Replica of a mammoth at the LWL Museum of Natural History in Münster
Image: Hamsterkiste
For many millions of years, animals with trunks have lived on Earth. About 160 different species have been counted, but almost all of them are now extinct. Today, only three kinds remain: African elephants, forest elephants and Asian elephants.
All three shared a common ancestor, known as the proto-elephant. It evolved in Africa more than seven million years ago. Its descendants spread not only across Africa, but also to Asia, Europe and North America.
The mammoth was one of the ancestors of today’s elephants. It was huge and had a thick coat of fur. Early humans hunted it for its meat. The last mammoths died out about 8,000 years ago. Even today, people sometimes find the bones of these extinct animals.
Find out:
- Which species of elephant still exist today?
- Which species became extinct about 8,000 years ago?
2 The characteristics of elephants
Asian elephants
Image: Hamsterkiste
The typical features of a modern elephant are its trunk, tusks and ears. These are especially large in African elephants. Since elephants cannot sweat, they use their ears to cool down.
Elephants use their tusks to strip bark from trees and dig for water. Tusks also help them defend themselves against predators and serve as weapons in fights with other elephants. They grow from the upper jaw and are hollow inside. They can reach 2.5 metres in length and weigh up to 100 kilograms. In female elephants, they are shorter and lighter than in males.
An elephant’s trunk is actually an extended nose. It is made up of many muscles and is extremely flexible. Elephants breathe and smell with it, and use it as a snorkel when swimming. The small hairs at the tip of the trunk also give them a very good sense of touch. With their trunks stretched out, they can reach leaves and branches high above the ground. They can take in around eight to ten liters in one go.
Elephants walk in a pacing gait. The two legs on one side are lifted at the same time, while the legs on the other side stay on the ground. That is why elephants have a slightly swaying gait. Despite their weight, they can run at speeds of up to 40 km/h.
Find out:
3. What do elephants use their ears for?
4. What Are Tusks For?
5. What do they do with their trunks, for example?
6. What is the elephants’ gait called?
3 African and Asian Elephants
African elephants have larger ears than Asian elephants
Image: pixabay.com
African elephants live in the vast savannas south of the Sahara Desert. Males can reach a height of 3.5 metres and weigh up to 6,000 kilograms. Female elephants grow to about 2.5 metres tall and weigh up to 2,800 kilograms.
From trunk to tail, large elephants can reach about 7.5 metres in length. The tail itself is about 1 metre long. The back of African elephants is slightly arched and slopes down towards the rear. African elephants have five toes on their front feet and four on their hind feet. Their ears are particularly striking and can grow to over a metre across.
Asian elephants are smaller and lighter than their African relatives. They grow to between 2 and 3.5 meters tall and weigh between 2,000 and 5,500 kilograms. Their ears are much smaller. They also differ from African elephants in the shape of their heads and backs, and they usually have one more toenail.
African elephants have two trunk tips, while Asian elephants have just one, which they use to feel things. Asian elephants mainly live in forests, where they can escape the heat of the day. They become active only at dusk and at night, when they roam in herds.
Find out:
7. How tall, heavy and long can African elephants grow?
8. How can you tell African and Asian elephants apart?
4 Elephants need a lot of food
Elephants are constantly searching for food
Image: pixabay.com
Elephants feed on grasses, roots, leaves, tree bark, wood and various fruits. African elephants eat around 200 to 300 kg of food a day and need up to 150 litres of water daily. They spend up to 16 hours searching for food and travel long distances in the process. They are often on the move at night, when it is not so hot.
When there is enough water, they also enjoy taking a full bath. Elephants are excellent swimmers. They rest standing up several times a day for short periods. When they lie down to sleep, some elephants keep watch to protect the young from leopards and lions.
Older bull elephants often live alone. Females and their young, on the other hand, form herds. Each herd is led by an experienced matriarch. She raises the young and knows where to find the best feeding grounds and water. At around 12 years old, males leave the group and then spend some time together in small bachelor herds.
Find out:
9. How many kilograms of food and how much water does an African elephant need each day?
10. How many hours a day do they spend looking for food?
11. Which animals live together in an elephant herd?
12. Who leads the herd?
5 Elephant calves
Young elephants nurse for four years
Image: Hamsterkiste
After mating, it takes 630 to 720 days for a baby elephant to be born. By comparison, a human baby is born after an average of 266 days. An elephant cow can give birth to a calf every four to nine years.
Baby elephants are already one meter tall at birth and can weigh up to 100 kilograms. Elephants are mammals. The calves are fed milk by their mothers for four years.
Elephants are the largest land animals on Earth, so they have few enemies. Only lions in Africa and tigers in Asia can pose a danger to young elephants. If a calf is attacked, other elephants try to protect it. If a calf loses its mother, other mothers will raise it. Elephants are adults by the age of 12 to 16. In the wild, they can live up to 70 years.
What you should find out::
13. How much does a baby elephant weigh at birth?
14. Which animals sometimes attack young elephants?
6 Elephants and people
This picture was taken around 1898. The tusks were sold to Europe.
Image: public domain
People have always tried to harness these animals and their tremendous strength. Stone Age people hunted them and ate their meat. Elephants were trained as working animals or war elephants; in more recent times, they have been exhibited in zoos or circuses. In India, the god Ganesha is depicted as a being with an elephant’s head.
The number of elephants has fallen sharply in recent decades. This is mainly due to poachers, who hunt and kill elephants. They are only interested in the animals' tusks, which are made of ivory. Ivory has always been highly prized in Europe. When Europeans advanced into Africa, elephants were hunted in large numbers. Their ivory was made into billiard balls, piano keys, handles and jewellery.
Today, the ivory trade is restricted. Ivory objects may only be traded if they were made before 1947. But ivory is often smuggled. In China, a kilogram can fetch up to 3,000 dollars. Since individual tusks weigh around 10 to 50 kg, killing an elephant and selling its ivory is very tempting for poachers.
Although efforts are made to protect elephants in Africa’s large national parks, the rangers are often unable to stop poachers.
Find out:
15. Why are elephants hunted by poachers?