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Let's learn about elephants.
Elephants are the largest living land animals.
Although giraffes are taller than elephants, elephants are much, much heavier.
The largest elephant ever recorded was an African elephant that weighed 27,000 lbs or
13.5 tons and measured more than 13 and a half feet or 4.1 meters tall.
Elephants are mammals.
They may not look very furry, but like all mammals, elephants grow at least a little
hair, they are warm-blooded, and they feed their babies milk.
Elephants are herbivores, eating leaves, fruit, twigs, bark, grass, and roots.
They can consume up to 500 lbs or 225 kg of vegetation per day.
Because of this, elephants spend almost all day eating.
Aside from their massive size, elephants are easy to identify because of their large, flat
ears and their long, flexible trunks.
The trunk, which is actually a long nose which can reach lengths of up to 7 feet or two meters
- is a specialized organ, unique to elephants.
Trunks are strong - elephants can easily lift loads of about 550 lbs or 250 kg with them
- but they are also very flexible and can perform delicate actions.
An elephant can even pick up a coin from a flat surface using its trunk.
Elephants can also suck water up into their trunk, but they do not drink it there.
Once they have filled their trunks with water, elephants will spray it into their mouths
to drink, or spray it onto their bodies to cool themselves.
A thirsty elephant may drink up to 50 gallons or 200 liters of water in one day, which is
enough to fill a bathtub.
There are two main types of elephants, Asian elephants and African elephants.
The Asian elephant is native to southeast Asia, and is the smaller of the two species.
They can be recognized by their smaller ears and by the fact that the females and even
some males do not have tusks.
Asian elephants live in grasslands, forests, and scrublands.
The African elephant is the larger of the two species, and can be recognized by its
oversized ears and prominent tusks on both males and females.
They can be found distributed through most of Africa, in forests, woodlands, scrub, or
desert.
Elephants are endangered, and there are a few different reasons why.
First, elephants are often hunted for their ivory tusks which can be sold around the world,
as well as for their meat and skins.
Although there are now laws in place to stop elephants being killed for their tusks, many
elephants every year are still killed by illegal hunters, or poachers.
Elephants can also be killed if they come too close to human settlements, damaging fences,
crops, or buildings.
Finally, elephants are at risk because their habitats are being destroyed.
Because they are so large, elephants need vast expanses of land to live and find food
in.
As humans expand their cities and farmland, elephants have fewer and fewer places to live.
People are working hard to save elephants.
Laws that banned the sale of ivory helped to save many elephants, and people are trying
hard to learn how to live peacefully with these giant mammals.
I hope you enjoyed learning about elephants today.
Goodbye till next time!