Just a few days ago I received this special gift from Senegal. It encouraged me to research and I decided to share with you some interesting facts about elephants.
Elephants are highly intelligent creatures, they have the largest brain of any land animal.
This incredible animals have three times as many neurons as humans so this explains why they demonstrate a high level of intelligence.
There are only two distinct species of elephant left in the world: The African elephant and the Asian elephant.
Of all animals, elephants have the longest pregnancy—it lasts 22 months.
Elephants use their trunks to lift a newborn elephant to its feet. Baby elephants suck their trunks for comfort just like human babies suck thumb.
Elephants also exhibit complex social behavior. They are highly sensitive and caring animals. If a baby elephant complains, the entire family will rumble and go over to touch and caress it. Elephants express grief, compassion, self-awareness and altruism.
Because elephants are so closely knit and highly matriarchal a family can be devastated by the death of another. A mother whose calf just died will distance herself from the group to grieve. Elephant bury their dead and revisited graves generation later.
They are also excellent swimmers who are able to swim for long distances. Elephants swim submerged underwater using their trunks to snorkle. They can swim 6 hours nonstop, then rest without sinking.
As the largest land mammals on Earth, adult elephants consume up to 300 pounds of food in a single day. Elephants are very clever animals. They definitely know what the right food is. They are herbivores and eat roots, grasses, fruit, bark, banana and sugarcane.
Elephants spend about 16 hours a day eating and so they sleep less.
BIG BUT NOT BRAVE?
Elephants are scared of bees, mice and ants.
Elephants are social creatures. They sometimes “hug” by wrapping their trunks together in displays of greeting and affection.
I am sending love to you all 😊