How many years does an elephant live? Elephants - interesting facts African elephant interesting facts for a first grader.

Elephants are considered the largest land representatives of the fauna. But not only their size and power amazes - these animals are extremely smart and sociable. They take care of their families, and their lives are regulated by many social laws and rules. These herbivorous giants, combining incredible strength and tenderness, are able to preserve the memory of long-dead relatives and mourn the loss of loved ones. Want to know even more interesting facts about elephants? Then read this article.

1.Elephants are the only living representatives of a group of mammals that once included the extinct American mastodon and mammoth. Manatees and hyraxes are also considered to be relatives of elephants, since they have common ancestors, and manatees are good-natured sea ​​giants, and hyraxes are funny, clumsy animals the size of a cat.

2. Currently, elephants are divided into African and Asian, which differ in appearance from each other. DNA studies have shown that African elephants are represented by two species: forest-dwelling giants and their savanna-dwelling relatives. Thus, total There are three species of living elephants, while previously, more than 12 thousand years ago, there were about 40 species.

3. Elephants are herbivores; their diet includes grasses, tree bark, leaves and fruits. They can spend approximately 18 hours eating every day. Well, since only 40 percent of the food consumed gives the animal the necessary feeling of fullness, the portions must be sufficient to meet the needs of his body. An adult animal usually eats about 180 kilograms of food per day and drinks 100–180 liters of water. To quench their thirst, elephants sometimes have to travel many kilometers.

4. Elephants use their impressive ears as a fan, and their ears also help scare off annoying insects, express emotions and look more impressive in the eyes of the enemy.

5. Males and females have tusks, but not all species, for example, female Indian elephants do not have tusks. Tusks are modified teeth that grow throughout the animal's life. With the help of tusks, animals carry various objects, strip bark from trees, clear paths, dig roots from the ground, and fight enemies. The average length of tusks has decreased significantly over the past few hundred years. And the blame is all on poachers who exterminated elephants with large tusks (the length of the tusks is inherited).

6. “Like a bull in a china shop” - they often say about a clumsy, clumsy person. However, the elephant itself is not at all clumsy. He has a well-developed sense of touch; even the giant’s foot is so sensitive that he can feel a coin on a flat surface. Being in a confined space, the animal senses the surrounding objects well and behaves carefully, but if it gets angry, it will really destroy everything around it.

7. An elephant’s trunk is an amazing organ that is an extension upper lip and the animal's nose. The trunk gives its owner a subtle sense of smell. And with the help of their trunk, elephants feed, take various objects, greet friends, scare away enemies, etc. With its trunk, the giant can lift any object from the ground from a log to a match. The trunk has tens of thousands of muscles, while in human body there are less than 650 of them! Heallows you to arrange a dusty or water shower (the trunk can hold up to eight liters of water). It is also an excellent periscope that helps the elephant breathe when it is underwater. Baby elephants suck on their trunk for comfort, much like small children suck on a pacifier. In order not to lose their mother, the cubs often cling to her tail with their trunk.

8. A female elephant is only able to conceive for a few days a year. Its gestation period is the longest among all mammals (the African elephant has 22 months, the Indian elephant 21). The weight of a newborn elephant calf can reach 120 kilograms!

9. Elephants live in families consisting of females - representatives of several generations and young animals of different ages. Females remain with their clan all their lives, while males, having reached 12-17 years of age, usually begin an independent life. The family is headed by an elephant matriarch. Her responsibilities include regulation way of life relatives, maintaining cohesion, caring for safety. The matriarch makes decisions extreme situations, for example, when it is necessary to attack the enemy, and when, on the contrary, to flee. She teaches young elephant mothers how to care for their babies, and also prepares her successor, who in the future will lead the family clan. A change of leader occurs only due to the death of the matriarch.

10. Elephants communicate with each other through touching and different sounds- grumbling, growling, grumbling, whistling. Moreover, they can produce sounds at such a low frequency that the human ear cannot detect them. The animals themselves are able to distinguish low-frequency sounds at a distance of more than eight kilometers.

11. Elephants have an amazing memory that allows them to remember insults caused by people, as well as places. important events. They do not forget their relatives even decades after separation. When meeting, they often form a circle, raising their heads high, flapping their ears and trumpeting loudly.

12. Elephants are emotionally highly developed. Joy, sadness, empathy for loved ones, anger - all this is not alien to these giants. Scientists are also inclined to believe that animals can experience joy when meeting a relative, at the birth of a baby in the clan, and also grieve for the dead. For example, females within a clan celebrate the birth of a baby together by trumpeting and stomping their feet. Or they take turns on duty, protecting a wounded baby elephant from the scorching sun and surrounding it with a tight ring if a predator appears somewhere nearby. Elephants express the most reverent and tender feelings through kisses and hugs. They can even smile. In addition, they bury their dead relatives - they throw leaves, branches and earth on the remains, trying to completely cover them. Eyewitnesses testify that elephants have been visiting the graves of their loved ones for many years.

13. Elephants play an extremely important role in wildlife. These herbivorous giants help maintain biodiversity in their habitats. They are capable of transporting plant seeds over a distance of up to 65 km, which makes them record holders among land animals in this regard. Scientists believe that if elephants disappear from the face of the earth, it will spell disaster for many species of animals and plants.

That's not all Interesting Facts about elephants. Below are a few more features from the life of these animals:

• Elephants do not sweat: they simply do not have sebaceous glands. They are helped to cool down by peculiar thermostats - large ears;
• V In order to protect themselves from the scorching sun, insect bites and fluid loss, giants take mud baths;
• Elephants swim well, but they cannot gallop. In addition, it is the only animal that cannot jump;
• Elephants' teeth change 6-7 times during their life;
• September 22 is World Elephant Day;
• The Age of the Elephant in the Wild favorable conditions is 60-70 years old.

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Traditionally, there are two types of elephants: Asian and African. Unfortunately, due to many reasons, such as poaching and habitat destruction, the population of these majestic animals is steadily declining

Elephants are the largest land animals living in South-East Asia and Africa in tropical forests and savannahs. Traditionally, there are two types of elephants: Asian and African.Unfortunately, due to many reasons, such as poaching and habitat destruction, the population of these majestic animals is steadily declining.

Believe me, there is still a lot you don’t know about these beautiful, intelligent and peaceful mammals:

1. Female elephants can produce offspring for up to 50 years every 2-4 years. As a rule, twinsElephants are rarely born; more often, one elephant calf is born. Female elephants have the longest periodGestation period of all mammals is 22 months.

2. The most large elephant in the world weighed a record 12 thousand kilograms, and reached a height of as much as four meters.

3. Unlike most mammals, in which only one milk teeth are replaced by permanent onesOnce again, elephants are polyphyodonts, that is, they change teeth throughout their lives.

4. Along with people, monkeys, magpies and dolphins, elephants can recognize themselves in the mirror.

5. Elephants can receive seismic signals using sensory cells in their legs. These vibrationscaused by impacts on the ground, pass into the middle ear of the elephant through the bones of the forelimbs. Having caughta seismic alarm signal, the elephant becomes aware of the approach of a predator and takes a defensive stance.

6. Throughout the terrestrial world, elephants are considered the largest animals, but compared to whales theyThey look more like gnomes. For comparison, a blue whale's tongue weighs as much as one adult elephant.

7. Elephants can only move forward or backward and cannot gallop or jump. Elephant -the animal is so heavy that it is unable to lift all four limbs off the ground simultaneously.

8. Contrary to popular myth, elephants are not afraid of mice. However, they are afraid of ants and bees. INAs a result, farmers in some African countries use beehives to protect their fields from elephant raids.

9. Hyraxes are the closest relatives of modern elephants. These small, dense, herbivoresmammals are often mistaken for rodents.

10. Elephants, like people, are capable of very wide range emotions. They experience a sense of loss, grief,and are also capable of crying. Elephants remember and mourn their loved ones even many years aftertheir deaths. When a man named Lawrence Anthony, the author of Elephant Whispers, who saved the lives of many, diedanimals, a whole herd of elephants came to his house to say goodbye to their friend.

11. Elephants make several types of sounds, the most famous of which is a loud trumpet sound. So are elephantsshow that they are worried, grieving or aggressive. Elephants can hear each otherdistance up to 10 kilometers.

12. People believe that elephants have excellent rumpiness. This statement is basedreal basis. The fact is that elephants form an image of a familiar spatial environment, socalled cognitive map. The presence of good memory in elephants is also indicated by their abilitytrack the whereabouts of your family group members.

13. An elephant's trunk has more than 40 thousand muscles. Despite the fact that the elephant trunk is very large (its weightis about 180 kilograms), the elephant handles it very deftly and can grab very smallthings like grains of rice.

14. The main reason for the mass killing of elephants by poachers is their tusks. Although scientists have long proventhat tusks consist of dentin, a substance similar to bone and not having any valuable properties.

15. Stories about elephants eating ripe fruits of the marula tree becoming drunk and rowdy arepure myths. Animals do not pick up overripe fruits that have fallen to the ground, in whichcontains the most alcohol. Even if an elephant takes a marula fruit, it will need to eat about 1400pieces to get drunk.

The elephant is the largest land animal of the class mammals, such as chordates, of the order Proboscis, of the elephant family (lat. Elephantidae).

Elephant - description, characteristics and photos.

Elephants are giants among animals. The height of the elephant is 2 - 4 m. The weight of the elephant is from 3 to 7 tons. Elephants in Africa, especially savannah ones, often weigh up to 10 - 12 tons. The powerful body of the elephant is covered with thick (up to 2.5 cm) skin of brown or gray with deep wrinkles. Elephant calves are born with sparse bristles, while adults are practically devoid of vegetation.

The head of the animal is quite large with ears of remarkable size. Elephant ears have a fairly large surface area; they are thick at the base with thin edges; as a rule, they are a good regulator of heat exchange. Fanning the ears allows the animal to increase the cooling effect. An elephant's leg has 2 kneecaps. This structure makes the elephant the only mammal that cannot jump. In the center of the foot there is a pad of fat that springs with every step, which allows these powerful animals to move almost silently.

The elephant's trunk is an amazing and unique organ formed by a fused nose and upper lip. Tendons and more than 100 thousand muscles make it strong and flexible. The trunk performs a series important functions, while simultaneously providing the animal with breathing, smell, touch and grasping food. Through their trunks, elephants protect themselves, water themselves, eat, communicate, and even raise their offspring. Another “attribute” of appearance is the elephant’s tusks. They grow throughout life: the more powerful the tusks, the older their owner.

An elephant's tail is about the same length as its hind legs. The tip of the tail is framed by coarse hair, which helps repel insects. The elephant's voice is specific. The sounds that an adult animal makes are called grunts, moos, whispers and elephant roars. The lifespan of an elephant is approximately 70 years.

Elephants can swim very well and love water procedures, and their average speed movement on land reaches 3-6 km/h. When running short distances, the elephant's speed sometimes increases to 50 km/h.

Types of elephants.

In the family of living elephants, there are three main species, belonging to two genera:

Species often interbreed and produce quite viable offspring.

• Genus Indian(Asian) elephants (lat. Elephas) ​​includes one species - Indian elephant(lat. Elephas maximus). It is smaller than the Savannah, but has a more powerful build and short legs. Color - from brown to dark gray. Distinctive feature This type of elephant has small quadrangular-shaped ears and one appendage at the end of the trunk. Indian or asian elephant distributed in tropical and subtropical forests India, China, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Brunei, Bangladesh and Indonesia.

Indian elephant

Where and how do elephants live?

African elephants live almost throughout the entire territory of hot Africa: in Namibia and Senegal, in Kenya and Zimbabwe, in Guinea and the Republic of Congo, in Sudan and South Africa, elephants feel great in Zambia and Somalia. The bulk of the livestock, unfortunately, is forced to live in national reserves so as not to become the prey of barbarian poachers. The elephant lives on any landscape, but tries to avoid desert areas and too dense tropical forests, preferring the savannah zone.

Indian elephants live in the northeast and south of India, Thailand, China and the island of Sri Lanka, and live in Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and Malaysia. Unlike their counterparts from the African continent, Indian elephants like to settle in wooded areas, preferring tropical bamboo thickets and dense bushes.

For approximately 16 hours a day, elephants are busy absorbing food, and they eat about 300 kg of vegetation with appetite. The elephant eats grass (including cattails, papyrus in Africa), rhizomes, bark and leaves of trees (for example, ficus in India), wild fruits, marula and even. The elephant's diet depends on its habitat, as they grow in Africa and India. different trees and herbs. These animals do not bypass agricultural plantations, causing significant damage to crops, sweet potatoes and other crops with their visits. Their tusks and trunk help them get food, and their molars help them chew. An elephant's teeth change as they are worn down.

At the zoo, elephants are fed hay and greens (in large quantities), and also give the animals vegetables, fruits, root vegetables: cabbage, apples, beets, watermelons, boiled oats, bran, willow branches, bread, as well as elephants’ favorite delicacy, bananas and other crops. In a day in the wild, an elephant eats about 250-300 kg of food. In captivity, elephant food intake is as follows: about 10 kg of vegetables, 30 kg of hay and 10 kg of bread.

Adults are known “water-suckers.” An elephant drinks about 100-300 liters of water per day, so these animals are almost always located near water bodies.

Elephant breeding.

Elephants form family herds (9-12 individuals), including a mature leader, her sisters, daughters and immature males. The female elephant is a hierarchical link in the family; she matures by the age of 12, and at the age of 16 she is ready to bear offspring. Sexually mature males leave the herd at the age of 15-20 years (African males at 25 years old) and become loners. Every year, males fall into an aggressive state caused by an increase in testosterone, which lasts about 2 months, so quite serious clashes between clans, ending in injuries and mutilations, are not uncommon. True, this fact has its own plus: competition with experienced brothers stops young male elephants from early mating.

Elephants reproduce regardless of the season. A male elephant approaches the herd when he feels the female is ready to mate. Loyal to each other in normal times, the males organize mating fights, as a result of which the winner is allowed to the female. An elephant's pregnancy lasts 20-22 months. The birth of an elephant takes place in a society created by the females of the herd, surrounding and protecting the woman in labor from random danger. Usually one baby elephant weighing about a hundredweight is born, sometimes there are twins. After just 2 hours, the newborn elephant stands on its feet and happily sucks its mother’s milk. After a few days, the cub easily travels with its relatives, grabbing its mother’s tail with its trunk. Feeding with milk lasts up to 1.5-2 years, and all lactating females participate in the process. By 6-7 months, plant foods are added to the milk.

There are up to half a million in the world African elephants, Asian ones are about 10 times smaller. As you know, elephants are large and very intelligent animals, which have served humans for peaceful and military purposes since ancient times.

Giants

Elephants are the most gigantic land animals on Earth. Average weight they reach five tons, and the body length is 6-7 meters. In 1956, an elephant weighing 11 tons was killed in Angola.

A female elephant carries a baby for 22 months, the newborn weighs 120 kilograms.

The brain of an elephant weighs 5 kilograms, the heart - 20-30 kilograms. It beats at a frequency of 30 beats per minute.

To feed such a “colossus”, an elephant has to look for food and eat most of the day, at least 20 hours. An elephant eats from 45 to 450 kilograms of plant food per day and drinks from 100 to 300 liters of water.

Elephants live 50-70 years. But there are also reporters. War elephant (served in the Chinese army) Lin Wang from Taiwan died in 2003 at the age of 86.

Smarties

Aristotle wrote: “The elephant is an animal that surpasses all others in wit and intelligence.” Elephants really have a lot good memory And developed intelligence. Elephants also turned out to be capable of learning human language.

An elephant named Kaushik, living in Asia, has learned to imitate human speech, or rather, five words: annyong (hello), anja (sit), aniya (no), nuo (lie down) and choah (good).

Kaushik not only mindlessly repeats them, but, according to observers, understands their meaning, since these are either commands that he carries out, or words of encouragement and disapproval.

Communication

Elephants usually communicate using infrasound, so for a long time the elephant's tongue remained unsolved. Research by Christian Herbst of the University of Vienna on the larynx of a dead elephant showed that elephants use their vocal cords to communicate.

The “vocabulary” of the elephant language turned out to be quite rich - Herbst recorded about 470 different stable signals that elephants use.

They can use them to communicate with each other over long distances, warn of danger, report births, and use various addresses to members of the herd, depending on their position in the hierarchy.

Trunk

An elephant's trunk is actually an extension of its upper lip. With the help of their trunk, elephants make tactile contact, say hello, can take objects, draw, drink and wash themselves. The trunk of the trunk can simultaneously hold up to eight liters of water. The trunk also has more than 40,000 receptors. Elephants have a very good sense of smell.

Tusks

Elephants, like people, can be left-handed or right-handed. Depending on which tusk the elephant works more, one of them becomes smaller.

Over the past century and a half average length Elephant tusk production in both Africa and India has halved.

This is due to the fact that the largest representatives of the population become victims of poachers, and the length of the tusks is a genetically inherited trait.

The tusks of deceased elephants are extremely rare to find. Because of this, for a long time there was an opinion that elephants go to die on mysterious elephant cemeteries. Only in the last century it was discovered that porcupines eat tusks, thus compensating for mineral hunger.

Taming the Elephants

Elephants, although intelligent animals, can also be dangerous. Male elephants periodically go through a state of so-called “must”. At this time, the level of testosterone in the blood of animals is 60 times higher than normal.

In order to achieve balance and obedience in elephants, they begin to be trained from early childhood.

One of the most effective methods like this: a baby elephant’s leg is tied to a tree trunk. Gradually he gets used to the fact that it is impossible to free himself from this state. When the animal grows up, it is enough to tie it to a young tree, and the elephant will not try to free itself.

Funeral rite

Elephants not only high level intellect, but also sensitive hearts. When someone from an elephant family dies, his relatives lift him up with their trunks, loudly turbulate him, and then roll him to a hollow and cover him with branches and throw earth at him. Then the elephants sit silently next to the body for several more days.

There are also cases where elephants also try to bury people, sometimes mistaking sleeping people for dead.