Do you know that there are 3 species of elephants in this world?
They are the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant and the Asian elephant.
All these 3 species have something in common. They are the largest land animals and prefer to live close to water sources. The elephants are herbivores and mostly they eat leaves, twigs, roots, fruits and grass.The elephants are social animals, usually they will be in a herd and the herd size is typically 8-12 elephants. In many cases you can find multiple groups (herds) living together.
“Let’s get to know some of the most important body parts of elephants”
Trunk:
Elephants have strong trunks which are mainly used for feeding themselves and their calves. They use them for collecting food in the jungle as well as wrestling. Interestingly, their trunks can lift up to 350 kg of weight and also can crack a peanut shell without breaking the seed! The trunk is also a sense organ and its sense of smell is 4 times that of a bloodhound! Just think how will you be able to hide a banana from the elephant?
Tusks:
These are used for digging, debarking, marking their territory, moving objects and fighting. In the Asian species only males have large tusks and females may have small or no tusks. Tusks are made of ivory which is a hard white material and as you know it is very valueble. In order to remove the tusk the animal would be hurt as there are many nerves connected to it and it is illegal to collect ivory.
Legs:
Elephants have 4 legs and even though they are very large in size, they can walk without making noises. This is because their feet contain circular pads under them to bear their weight. These giants can move forward and backward. The cushion pads can expand and contract to reduce pain and noise that can be caused by the movement of a heavy animal.
“In the next article you will learn more about other parts of the elephants”
