Elephants
Elephants are a large animal. In fact an African elephant is the largest land animal and the second largest animal in the world! Males on average reach up to 3m high and weigh roughly 6 tonnes.
Males only reach their full size at 35-40 years which is well over half of their lifespan as wild elephants can live for 60-70 years. It's not just the adults though - even calves are huge. At birth elephants can weigh 120kg or almost 19 stone.
Because of this size, elephants need to eat up to 150kg of food a day which is around 375 tins of baked beans. They eat so much that they can spend up to three-quarters of their day eating.
There are only two species of elephant: African and Asian elephant. But how can you tell them apart? Well, the ears of African elephants are much larger than the Asian elephants' ears and are being described as being the shape of Africa the continent. However the ears of Asian elephants are supposedly shaped like India.
There's also a trunk difference - African elephants have two 'fingers' at the tip of their trunks, whereas Asian elephants only have one.
Elephants have around 150 000 muscle units in their trunk. Their trunks are perhaps the most sensitive organ found in any mammal - Asian elephants have been reportedly seen to pick up a peanut, shell it, blow the shell out and then eat the nut.
Elephants can also use their trunks to suck up water. It can hold up to 8 litres of water at a time. They also use their trunks as a snorkel when swimming.
An elephant's skin is 2.5cm thick in most places. The folds and wrinkles in their skin can retain up to 10 times more water than flat skin does, which helps them to keep cool. They keep their skin clean and protect themselves from sunburn by taking consistent dust and mud baths.
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Elephants are very smart. And special too! Elephants communicate with one another in many ways including sounds like trumpet calls with some of these sounds being so low that a human cannot hear it without special equipment of any sort. They also connect using body language, touch and scent. However, they can also communicate by seismic signals (sounds that create vibrations in the ground) which they may detect through their bones.
Amazingly, at birth, the calf is able to stand up within 20 minutes of being born and can walk within an hour. After two days, they can even keep up with the herd! This incredible survival technique means that the herd of elephants can keep migrating to find food and water to thrive.
The elephant's temporal lobe (the area of the brain associated with memory) is larger and denser than that of people - hence the saying 'elephants never forget'.
Yet people still want to kill these magical creatures.
Elephant tusks are, surprisingly, actually enlarged incisor teeth which first appear when elephants are around 2 years old. Tusks continue growing throughout their lives. Tusks are used to help with feeding - especially when prising bark off trees or digging up roots - or as a defense when fighting.
But these beautiful tusks often cause elephants danger. They're made from ivory; a much desired object.
Around 90% of African elephants have been wiped out in the past century - largely due to the ivory trade - leaving an estimated 415,000 wild elephants alive today.
Asian elephants are also under threat, having declined by at least 50% in the last three generations. There are only around 45,000 left in the wild. As their habitat changes, fragments are lost to human settlements and agriculture, populations of Asian elephants are finding it harder to follow their traditional migration routes to reach water, feeding and breeding grounds, and they’re coming into often dangerous contact with people.
