Asian
 Elephants
are the smaller of the two species. Their trunks have only one lip. They
have an arched back and smaller ears. Female elephants tusks are not
visible.
Elephants are the largest living land animals, with males standing on
average at 4 metres tall, weighing about 6,500 kgs with a body length of
25 feet.
Their trunk, or proboscis is a very sensitive organ used for
smelling, handling food, objects, sucking up water and touching. Their
food and water is picked, or sucked up using the trunk and then passed
into their mouth. They also use their trunks to suck up water to squirt
over their bodies to keep them cool. Their trunk is sensitive enough to
pick up seeds and powerful enough to lift whole trees.
Their large ears act as a cooling system. The backs of the ears are
covered by blood vessels and by flapping their ears elephants can keep
their body temperature down.
Elephant’s tusks are large teeth growing from the upper jaw. They use
their tusks for feeding such as digging up roots and lifting the bark
from trees, as well as for display and as a weapon. Elephants are
usually about 2 years of age when their tusks first begin to appear. It
is because of their tusks that elephants have been so widely hunted.
Elephants eat grasses, leaves, shrubs and also tree bark, twigs and
branches. Each day they will consume about 500 lb of vegetation and
drink about 120 litres of water.
They are very sociable animals usually living in herds consisting of
cows with their calves, led by the oldest female the matriarch. Some
males are part of bachelor herds. They communicate by sight, sound,
smell and touch. |
