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Elephants are amazing creatures that people have been studying closely for thousands of years. Today, there are three species of elephants left: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. These unique species have many amazing qualities and adaptations that help them thrive both in their natural habitat and in captivity.
You probably already know that elephants are the largest land mammals in the world, but have you heard of any other lesser known facts about elephants?
1. An elephant molar is about the size of a brick and can weigh 4 to 8 pounds!
Elephants are strictly herbivores, but they still need large teeth to break down the vast amounts of plant material they consume every day. They usually have only four molars at any given time, but it is common for an elephant to go through six or more sets of molars in its lifetime!
These wide, flat molars have ridges that help chop up plants such as tree bark and branches for maximum efficiency. Interestingly, in African and Asian elephants, the crests on the molars are of different shapes; The root crests of African elephants are diamond-shaped, while those of Asian elephants are more cylindrical.
2. The oldest recorded elephant was an Asian elephant named Changallor Daksayani, who lived to a robust 89 years old!
Both African and Asian elephants live long lives. Asian elephants in the wild usually live between 40 and 50 years, while African elephants live slightly longer, around 60 years.
Changallor Daksayani was originally purchased by the Indian royal family of Travancore and donated to the Tiruvaratu Kavu temple in 1949 when she was 19 years old. Later in the late 1960s, she was transferred to another institution, the Chenkallur Mahadev Temple.
In 2016, she was officially certified as the oldest elephant in captivity by the Indian Univeral Records Forum in Kolkata. She died on February 5, 2019 at a medical facility in Pappanamkod, the capital of Kerala, India, at the old age of 89.
3. African elephants have larger ears than Asian elephants to keep their cool.
Just by looking at Asian elephants compared to their African counterparts, it becomes apparent that their ears are much smaller and more rounded in appearance. The main reason for this difference is that they live in completely different climates.
While Asian elephants live in cooler jungles with more vegetation for shade, African elephants live in a much hotter and harsh desert environment. Over time, this has led African elephants to have much larger ears, which they use as fans to cool their massive bodies under the fierce African sun.
In addition, huge networks of capillaries pass through the ears of the African elephant, which generate excess heat during the long and difficult transitions of the elephants across the African savannah.
4. The only known case of crossing Asian and African elephants – a calf named Motti died after just 10 days in captivity.
Asian and African elephants never come into contact in the wild, so they never crossed naturally. However, this did not stop people from trying to cross the two species with each other in captivity.
While there are several rumors of Asian-African hybrid elephants being born in various zoos and circuses throughout history, only one has actually been confirmed. In 1978, at the Chester Zoo in Cheshire, England, a calf named Motti was born to the mother of the Asian elephant Sheba and the African father Jumbolino. Motti was named after the founder of the zoo, George Mottershead.
Unfortunately, the calf survived only 10 days before dying of an umbilical infection. Today, Motti’s body is kept in the Natural History Museum of London.
5. Elephants can recognize their own reflection in mirrors!
Self-awareness is an extremely rare trait among animals, and has been consistently demonstrated and recorded in only three species: humans, chimpanzees, and orangutans. However, a “mirror test” has been performed on many other species, but the results have been mixed.
In recent years, many other animals such as dolphins, magpies and even elephants have shown promising results when tested. In 2006, the Bronx Zoo conducted a standard mirror test on three Asian elephants living at the institution.
Surprisingly, elephants did not greet their reflection the way they would normally approach other elephants! They have been observed to touch the mirror and observe themselves closely, repeating movements such as wiggling their trunk and moving their head. It was at this point that the researchers realized that the elephants actually realized that they were looking at their own reflection, and not at another member of their own species!
6. There are about 40,000 different muscles in the trunk of an elephant!
In comparison, humans have about 600 muscles throughout their entire body. The elephant’s trunk is extremely powerful and flexible, with these 40,000 muscles subdivided into even more individual units to give it a wide range of motion and dexterity.
With these 40,000 muscles, an elephant’s trunk can lift objects weighing up to 700 pounds! This helps them a lot when feeding, as they use their trunks to pluck bark from trees and suck whole branches into their mouth with ease.
7. A baby elephant can weigh over 250 pounds at birth.
It’s no secret that elephants are huge animals, but did you know how huge their babies are? A newborn baby elephant typically weighs about 250 pounds, is three feet tall, and can stand up on its own within 30 minutes of birth. This is an amazing feat considering how difficult they are even at such a young age!
However, despite this size and strength at such a young age, baby elephants must remain very close to their mothers at an early age in order to survive. This is because they are nearly blind at birth and have to rely on their other senses, such as sound, touch, and smell, to get around.
8. The elephant’s tusks are actually modified incisors.
In most animal species, the incisors are primarily used to bite and tear food. Elephant tusks are used in a similar way, often tearing apart tree bark, branches and even the ground with ease. These tusks grow steadily throughout the elephant’s life and gradually wear out when the animal uses them to eat, dig, and even defend itself.
In addition, the tusks help protect the elephant’s delicate trunk. They are ideally positioned on either side of the trunk to protect it from predators and damage from repeated use.
9. Elephants cannot jump.
We’ve all seen this before: a cartoon elephant jumps in fright at the sight of a mouse or other rodent. In fact, elephants’ legs are not meant to jump at all.
The bones in an elephant’s legs are not only too heavy to lift off the ground, but also point downward, and lack the flexibility and strength to push off the ground and rise into the air. Elephants always keep at least one foot on the ground, even when running at speeds up to 25 miles per hour!
10. Elephants can sense seismic activity with their legs and trunk.
Scientists at Stanford University have found that elephants use their trunks and legs to pick up seismic signals from other elephants hundreds of feet away!
This behavior is known as seismic communication. Many species of smaller animals use it to find mates, prey and new territory, but it is much less common among large animals such as elephants. It is believed that elephants, even with their trunk and legs, feel the approaching thunderstorm and will move towards them in search of water!
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