Adaptations Project Elephants
By Jacie Garrett
Structural Adaptations
Since elephants live in tropical habitats and do not have any sweat glands, they have to find other ways to cool themselves off. They can flap their ears to create a cooling effect. They can also spray water on themselves and roll in the mud. This would be a structural adaptation because its not like there behaving to do this. Also this helps the animal keep a good temperature so there not to cold or hot.
Another adaptation is elephants walk on their tippy-toes and the soles of their feet are cushioned with a thick pad of fatty tissue which helps to distribute their weight so that they don’t put much pressure on their feet because they have such a massive body. This would be External because its not really inside there body and it would be structural or behavioral because the elephant could chose to walk on there tippy-toes but its also on there feet they didn't just put it on there feet. This would help the animal because there massive body is so heavy its helping there feet not just crush underneath them.
Elephants trunk have developed to be used for eating grass, holding onto things, and drinking water. This is an internal adaptation because there using there to help them survive. This helps them because its getting food and water and everything else for them to help them survive.
Another internal adaptation for the elephant is it tusks they help them dig throw objects and even pull down the trees if they want to. This helps them if there trying to fight or get predators and prey.
Behavioral Adaptations
Elephants like to roll in mud to get flies of, and this would be a behavioral adaptation. And this helps them survive so the flies wont be bothering them all the time and getting the elephants annoyed.
Elephants chose to flap there ears and to roll in mud and to protect themselves are all behavioral traits that the animal chooses to do to for survival.
Tusks are also used for digging holes for the elephants so they can bath, or drink water, or anything like that. This is also a behavioral adaptation.
Natural Select/Selective Breeding
Biome
Tropical and subtropical regions of Africa and Asia is where elephants live. There also found in savannas, grasslands, and forests. Or they also live in deserts, swamps, and mountains. This Is the Elephants biome/habitat.
Some Biotic Factors are plants, trees, bugs, organisms and some Abiotic Factors are tempurature, soil, water, weather/climate, and rock.
Interesting Facts
Newborn elephants are able to stand on there feet only a short amount of time after being born.
An elephant’s trunk has more than 40,000 muscles in it and no bones, which helps give the trunk its flexibility.
An elephant in one of the few 4 legged animal that cant run or jump mainly because of its weight.
At birth baby elephants are blind and they depend on their trunk and their mothers to help them/ guide them to water or any of their needs.
Elephants tusk grows up to around 10 feet and weighs around 200 pounds.