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On
average, elephants live as long as humans do.
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The elephant’s closest land relative is the rock
hyrax, which is about the size of a rabbit.
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To protect themselves from bug bites and sunburns, elephants
spray themselves with water and then with dust.
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Elephants are social animals. They live in herds that
are mostly male or mostly female. Aunts and cousins help
care for the babies in their herds.
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Elephants greet by touching one other, trunk to mouth.
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Elephants are sometimes called pachyderms, which
means thick-skinned. But while elephant skin
may be thick, it’s also quite sensitive.
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An elephant’s trunk has over 150,000 individual
muscles.
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Elephants use their trunks for big tasks like tearing
branches from trees, but they can also use them to pick
up small objects like coins. With their trunks, elephants
can reach even higher than giraffes.
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Elephants spend about 16 hours eating between 220 and
880 pounds of food every day. That may seem like a lot,
but when the amount they eat is compared to their size,
they actually eat less than smaller animals.
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How can you tell an African elephant from an Asian elephant?
African elephants stand higher at the shoulder than at
the head. Their ears are larger, and their backs are concave,
which means they dip down in the middle.
