Did you know that the African
Elephant is the largest land animal! The African Elephant can weigh up to 61
tons! The African Elephant can live up to 70 years old. It's diet is plants which
makes it a herbivore. The Elephants predator is only the human. The Elephants
trunk is one of it's important features because it's trunk serves as an extra
hand or leg. And it can make the Elephant call other Elephants and it can help
it get food and drinks. The tusks are another helpful feature to the Elephant.
It can help for self defense. The largest tusks on an Elephant is recorded to
weigh 214 pounds and it was 138 inches long. But, nowadays because of poachers
it is hard to find tusks that weigh more than 100 pounds. Elephants have huge
ears! An African Elephant'
s
ears are twice as big as an Asian Elephants ears. Elephants use their ears to
send warning signals. The scars on an Elephant's ear helps distinguish between
individuals. The bottom of the Elephants foot is covered with a padding to
prevent slipping and the padding the deadens sound of the Elephants foot.
Elephants form small family groups. There are three or four offspring in this
group. Females mature at about 11 years and they stay in this group. Male
Elephants mature at about age 12 to 15 and do not stay in the group. Even though
these Elephants mature, they don't breed until their late 20's. Some Elephants
communicate by a big blast of alarm or danger which makes the other Elephants
form a protective circle around that Elephant. An Elephants day is mostly eating
[ about 16 hours a day] and drinking, bathing, and resting [about three to five
hours a day]. An Elephant only digests about 40 percent of it's food and it
drinks many gallons of water. A young Elephant must learn to use it's trunk to
help it eat and drink. Elephants eat grass, leaves, fruit and seed pods.
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