REPORT

Elephants are the largest and heaviest mammals on land. Elephants belong to

two general family Elephantidae. They are Elephas and Loxodonta. Three species of

elephants are living today are the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant and

the Asian elephant (also known as the Indian elephant). During the period of ice age there

were more, now extinct species, including the elephant-like mammoth and mastodont and the

"shovel tuskers", the platybelodon and amebelodon.

The elephant's gestation period is 22 months, the longest of any land animal. At birth

it is common for an elephant calf to weigh 100 kilograms (225 pounds). They typically live

for 50 to 70 years, but the oldest recorded elephant lived for 82 years. The largest elephant

ever recorded was shot in Angola in 1956. This male weighed about 24,000 lb (11,000 kg),

with a shoulder height of 3.96 meters (13.0 ft), a meter taller than the average male African

elephant. 

The species of elephants are typically grayish in color. Elephant skin is thick and

much wrinkled. Usually elephants wallow in mud holes of colored soil. Wallowing is an

important behaviour in elephant society. Not only is it important for socialization, but the

mud acts as a sunscreen, protecting their skin from harsh ultraviolet radiation. Although

tough, an elephant's skin is very sensitive. Without regular mud baths to protect it from

burning, as well as from insect bites and moisture loss, an elephant's skin would suffer

serious damage. After bathing, the elephants will usually use its trunk to blow soil on its body

to help dry and bake on its new protective coat. As elephants are limited to smaller and

smaller areas, there is less water available, and local herds will often come too close over the

right to use these limited resources.

Elephants have brown eyes and they are color blind. Vision is limited in strong, direct

sunlight and better in the woods and shadows.

The large flapping ears of elephants are also very important for temperature

regulation. Elephant ears are made of a very thin layer of skin stretched over cartilage and a

rich network of blood vessels. On hot days, elephants will flap their ears constantly, creating

a slight breeze. This breeze cools the surface blood vessels, and then the cooler blood gets

circulated to the rest of the animal's body. The hot blood entering the ears can be cooled as

much as 10 °F (6 °C) before returning to the body. Their hearing is keen and they can detect

rumblings from miles away. Every elephant has different ears, just like human fingerprints.

The most obvious characteristic of elephants is the trunks. The elephants’ trunks are

actually their noses, but the elephants can use them like extra hands. The trunks are used for

breathing, eating, drinking, touching, picking up things, throwing things, feeling, digging,

squirting, fighting, playing and greeting. Smell is the most important sense for the elephant,

and the trunks can often be seen held up high trying to determine smells in the air.

Elephants also have tusks, large teeth coming out of their upper jaws. The elephants’

tusks are actually their front teeth. Just like humans are right handed or left handed, so are

elephants, some are right tusked while others are left tusked. The one they favor has been

ground down and is shorter from the constant use. Both male and female African elephants

have tusks, but only male Asian elephants do. Tusks are used for digging, fighting, feeding,

fighting and lifting. Elephants’ tusks are the major source of ivory, but because of the

increased rarity of elephants, hunting and ivory trade is now illegal.

Elephants need 18 - 24 gallons of water every day. They suck water up their trunk,

then holding the end closed, bring their trunk to their mouth to squirt the water inside.

Elephants are herbivores and eat up to 100 different kinds of plants. All parts of the

plant are eaten - leaves, twigs, bark, roots, flowers, fruit, seeds, and thorns. They spend most

of their time eating, about 16 hours a day. Because elephants use only 40% of what they eat,

they have to make up for their digestive system's lack of efficiency in volume. An adult

elephant can consume 300 to 600 pounds of food a day, 60% of the food leaves the elephants’

body undigested.

Elephants usually walk about 2 to 4 miles an hour, but they can reach 24 miles an

hour at full speed. They move quietly because of the soft pads in their feet. Elephants can

also swim very well, and in deep water, they will swim underwater, raising their trunks to act

as a snorkel.

Elephants live together in family groups with a matriarch (wise, experienced female)

as the head. Daughters and sisters stay together, and young males up to age 13 are included.

However, males are encouraged to leave and can be found in small bachelor groupings or on

their own. The mother elephants look after their young longer than any other animal except

humans. All members of the family assist and protect the youngsters. Babies will follow their

mothers, sisters, or aunties, and are guided by trunk touches. Babies drink milk from their

mothers up to 4 years. But, elephants do not have a permanent home.  They travel and

migrate to food and water sources.

Elephants are very intelligent animals. Their intelligence combined with their great

strength makes elephants very useful servants to man. Elephants can be trained to serve in

various ways such as to carry heavy loads, hunt for tigers and even fight. Elephants are really

smart animals.

Elephants have been used in various capacities by humans. War elephants were used

by armies in the Indian sub-continent, and by the Persian empire. This benefit was adopted by

Hellenistic Ptolemaic and Seleucid kingdoms. The Carthaginian general Hannibal took

elephants across the Alps when he was fighting the Romans. Hannibal brought too few

elephants to be of much military use, although his horse cavalry was quite successful.

Hannibal probably used a now extinct third African species, the North African elephant,

smaller than its two southern cousins.

In the wild, elephants exhibit complex social behavior and strong family bonds. Most

females will stay with their original natal group for a lifetime. Social hierarchy in calf-cow

groups is based on size and age, with the largest and oldest females at the top and the smallest

and youngest coming in last. Adolescent males determine their own ranking order through

head-butting contests, where strength and temperament are as important as size and age. They

communicate with very low and long-ranging subsonic tones.

A recent theory holds that elephants, which share an ancestor with sea cows, evolved

from animals which spent most of their time in the water or even under water, using their

trunks like snorkels for breathing. It has been recently discovered that the species can still

swim using their trunks in that manner.