About Elephant And Interesting Facts About Elephant

What is special about an Elephant?

Height: 3m

Weight:  4000-7500 kg

Life span:  60-70 years

Elephants are massive creatures, known for their strength and wisdom. In Hindu mythology, they are worshipped as Ganesha, the Vighnaharta.

In this blog, we will discuss the quick facts about elephant.

A brief history of Elephant and a look at their origin

Elephants belong to the family of Proboscidea. It is a Greek word that describes large mammals with trunks. Over the days, the trunk has evolved, and now it serves the purpose of the hand and nose.

A look at Elephant height, weight, and size

Three different Elephant species are roaming around-

• The African Savannah Elephant
• African forest elephant.
• and Asian Elephant.

They are the world’s largest land animals weighing 4000-7500 kg with 3m in height, and Asian elephants are slightly smaller, having a height of 2.7 m, and they weigh 3000-6000 kg. They have a life span of 60-70 years.

Here are some quirky facts about elephant

The Elephant has a great memory

The memory of elephants is very good. They possess the largest brain and can recall the humans they have encountered, watering holes, even after many years. They can also recall the path for food and water sources and how to reach them when the need arises.

Elephant can understand human language

Elephants exhibit a distinct characteristic of understanding human language. Their abilities go beyond comprehension. One Asian elephant event tried to mimic Korean words. The researchers say that because of their social contact with humans in their growing years, they learned to mimic words in the form of social bonding.

An elephant has a great sense of hearing

The researchers theorize that Elephant’s hearing ability is high, and they can send vocalizations to long distances in the form of snorts, roars, cries, and barks. They can also pick up low-frequency rumbles and sounds that protect them from predators in forests.

They are excellent swimmers

It is known that elephants love to immerse and play in the water. They are known for splashing and spraying water from their trunks. But do you know that elephants have high buoyancy to stay at the water surface and use their legs to paddle? Their trunks helps cross deep water and breathe even when immersed in water. Swimming is a necessary skill that they need to master because they have to cross lakes and rivers searching for food.

They help each other when in need

Elephants are social, altruistic creatures known to demonstrate the behavior of compassion and kindness. The group demonstrates targeted help and coordination with each other when another elephant is injured. In a study, the researchers have found that the elephants become distressed and help other elephants when in need.

Elephants suffer from Post-traumatic stress disorder

Elephants are social and sensitive souls. They gel with their family members and need comfort when they experience a tragedy, like witnessing a family member killed by the poachers. They experience deep stress even decades later. These traumatic experiences hurt their learning skills too.

They pay homage to their relatives

The researchers have found that even after the death of their family members, they will return to the same place to touch the remaining bones, feet, and trunk of the deceased. The Washington Post described the same incident for a 10-year-old elephant visiting the mother’s corpse. He touched her bones, and streaming liquid flowed that resembled tears.

The dirt act as their sunscreen

Do you know why elephants like to play with dirt? Though it looks like they have strong and sturdy skin, it is likely to get burned. To counter react to the damaging sun rays, the elephant throws dust at each other.

The elephants show respect to their elders

Studies have shown that elephant respects their elders and need them because entire information about their survival is passed down. Hence, it is crucial for young family members to spend time with the older family members, including their mothers, to know how to respond in danger and from where they can search for food and water.
They have good mathematical and cognitive abilities too.

Are humans and elephants linked together?

Though it is believed that humans and elephant exhibit high memory skills and are somehow related to each other, but they can’t live with humans because they need large areas and not small-fenced properties.

What does  Elephant eat?

The elephant eats with their enlarged incisor teeth, also known as tusk, which continues to grow throughout their lives. Through tusks, they dig up the root, break off large tree branches, and eat fruits. They use them as a defense for fighting too. But these tusks can cause them danger, as they are made from ivory, the much-desired material used for artwork in Africa.
The elephant keeps on eating, and they need 150 kg of food every day to survive.

Elephant and their extinction

Thanks to changing climatic effects, African elephants have become extinct. Moreover, as the human population grows tremendously, tens and thousands of elephants are killed every year. Many reserves and sanctuaries have been created to protect them.

Bottom Line

Elephants are peaceful animals with traits similar to humans. However, they can become aggressive when musth, sick, or injured. These animals need our attention and spacious places to live in, but can we provide them the same?