Living with elephants
By Haylie
Imagine, nearly 6 tons stomping through the sub-saharan in africa. Female groups coming together protecting their young. Do you know what creature I’m talking about? The elephant of course!
Elephant species
The African elephant. At nearly 8 tons the African elephant is the biggest elephant and the largest mammal on earth, according to the author of, http://www.worldwildlife.org. The elephants are found in sub-saharan(Where the African elephant calls it’s home, it’s located in Africa.) It’s big ears and trunk are very useful, the trunk picks up water to drink and picks up objects too. And can be used as a warning. And ALL African elephants including females have tusks. African elephants have three toes on the hind feet and five toes in the forefoot. There trunk is an addition to the upper lip and is used for speaking with other elephants.
Now for the Asian elephant, these can be found in many places like for instance Nepal(Where Asian elephants call home, it’s located between India and Tibet.) and Southern China. These elephants are not much alike with African elephants for example these elephants only weigh about 5 tons. And only SOME Asian elephants have tusks. Asian elephants are much, much smaller than an African elephant, they also have much smaller ears that they wave back and forth to cool themselves down. There skin is is a dark grey to a brown with pink spots on their head, ears and trunk. But these two elephants are not just different. They both need wide varieties of space to live in and need hundreds of pounds of plants in just a day.The elephants memory
The elephant's memory is key to their survival. Elephants have amazing memories, scientists have proven it too.
Elephants can remember things like old grudges with other elephants or meet old friends, they can also remember old watering or food places they have been to in the past to lead their herd. There memories are what keeps them alive so long, (Which is 50 to 60 years and more.) According to http://wonderopolis.org, people that work close with elephants have seen that the ones that have hurt them or injured them can hold grudges against the person who hurt the elephant. They even did a test they did a study of an African elephant the elephant would show signs of negativity to the clothing by smelling it or seeing it.Protecting their young
The elephant mothers bond between her and her calf is one of the most strongest bonds than any other animal on earth says, http://www.conservenature.org There pregnancy lasts for 22 months. When first born it’s covered in black fur and weighs about 120 to 130 kg. Protecting her young means never taking her eyes off her child, and all the females in the herd coming together when a young one is in trouble, and walking at the speed of the baby elephant, and that's exactly what they do! A female baby will stay with her mother until she is an adult or most likely never leave her mother, on the other hand a male calf with stay with his mother while young but once he reaches 12 he gets a urge to fight with other males, his mother don't like this, so they will take him out of the group and the male becomes a lone ranger or a bull elephant. A calf nurses very often almost a whole day, after nursing the calf begins eating plants little by little.
Elephants are animals with such amazing characteristics, their memory, their lovable bond that could never be broken and their cuteness of course! Their memories help them survive and their young ones give them joy, the elephants of the world, are big, strong and independent creatures.