18 Amazing Facts About Elephants You Probably Don’t Know!

Emily
4 min readNov 25, 2020

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18 Amazing Facts About Elephants

1. The elephant is the heaviest animal on the planet.
The elephant is the heaviest animal on Earth. The African elephant normally weighs between 4,000 and 7,000 kilograms. Asian elephants, on the other hand, are lighter and generally weigh between 3,000 and 5,000 kilograms.
The heaviest weight ever recorded for an elephant was 10,886 kilograms.

2. Elephants love water and mud.
Elephants are accustomed to keeping themselves cool. Insects eat the bodies of elephants and this bothers them. These large animals immerse their bodies in mud and water to escape these vermin.
One of the coolest things about elephants is that they are great swimmers with that big body. Most interestingly, the mud is a sunscreen for elephant skin. That is, they immerse themselves in dirty mud to protect themselves from the sun’s harmful UV rays.

3. The longest gestation period belongs to elephants.
Female elephants hold the baby in their womb for up to 22 months. Most elephants live between 50 and 70 years. The female elephant is able to conceive even at the age of 50. It is also good to know that a newborn baby elephant weighs about 100 kg.

4. The amazing snout of elephants
The snout of the elephants is also very amazing. This organ weighs about 180 kg, and yet the elephant can remove the smallest objects and grains from the ground with its snout; Even rice grains!

amazing snout of elephants

5. Elephants have very sensitive skin.
Although the elephant’s skin is about 2.5 cm thick and looks very rough, you should know that it is very sensitive. So that it feels like a fly or mosquito sitting on its skin.

6. Elephants are herbivores.
The elephants ate with that large body, plant roots, grass, fruit and leaves. Maybe that’s why they don’t bother anyone. But you should know that each elephant is able to consume 160 liters of water and 140 kg of food per day.

7. Elephants have big hearts.
The elephant’s heart is so large that it is said to weigh between 12 and 21 kilograms.

8- Elephants’ memory is excellent.
Elephants have a very good memory. They are able to memorize different paths and environments in their minds for a long time and remember them when necessary. It is interesting to know that the structure of the elephant brain is very similar to the human brain!

Elephant ivory

9. Elephant ivory is very valuable.
The ivory height of elephants is about 3 meters. About 100 elephants are killed every day for their precious ivory. Elephant ivory is used to make ornaments and cosmetics.

10. Elephants communicate with each other by touch.
Elephants communicate by touching each other. Elephants greet each other by stroking or sniffing their nostrils.
Young elephants joke with each other by hitting each other on the body. When two elephants touch each other’s mouths, it means they want to have sex with each other.

11. An ant is able to kill an elephant.
Although the elephant is the largest animal on the planet, if a small ant enters its snout, it can kill the elephant. That is why elephants raise their noses to avoid the danger of ants and other insects.

12. The elephant has a chin!
In addition to humans, elephants also have chins. Isn’t that weird? But it is true. No animal other than elephants and humans have chins.

13. The elephant is endangered.
The habitats of the elephants are disappearing. That is why their population is declining. Elephants are endangered in Asia and Africa.

14. Elephants have a very strong sense of smell.
Elephants have a very strong sense of smell. It is interesting to know that an elephant can smell water from a distance of 20 km.

15. Elephant ears are radiators!
One of the uses of elephant ears is to cool elephants. The elephant’s ear has large blood vessels that can be seen from behind. Blood flows in these vessels and cools, then continues to circulate and cools the rest of the body.

White elephants

16- White elephants!
White elephants are a rare example of elephants. Of course, they are no different from gray elephants and only their skin color is different. These elephants look pink when wet. The white elephant is often found in Southeast Asia and Thailand.

17. Elephants can distinguish females from males.
The elephant mind has the power to distinguish between men and women. It is also good to know that elephants can recognize themselves in the mirror. Only a few animals have this ability.

18. Elephants mourn their dead.
Elephants hold a “funeral” when they lose a member of their herd. They gather around the corpse and spend some time in silence. The elephants cover the corpse with branches before leaving.
When a baby elephant dies, other elephants come to comfort the baby elephant’s mother and express their sympathy by touching her.

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Emily

An Aryan girl interested in history, art, science, technology and …..… , I love writing ;)