The Elephants

            The elephant is the largest animal to walk on Earth. An elephant can carry a load that 1,200 pounds in weight. They eat 300 pounds of food a day. A baby elephant can weigh 200 pounds at birth. Elephants can live up to 70 years.

            Elephants can be trained to carry logs with their trunks and have been used in the forestry industry in Asia for many years. The elephant also use their trunks for drinking water, bathing, eating, and communicating each other.

            Recently it was discovered that elephants can communicate over a distance of several miles using an infrasonic sounds that inaudible to humans.

            Elephants use their ears as a cooling system. Blood flows through veins in the ears and as the elephant flaps it’s ears, the blood cools and flows through its body to cool off other parts.

            Elephant feet are large and round. They distribute the large animal’s weight effectively. In the past, elephants were killed and their feet were made into umbrella stands and small tables for tourist. But now, elephants are protected by special laws.

            There are two kinds of elephants; The African Elephant and The Indian Elephant. African Elephant can be identified by the ears that larger than Indian Elephant’s ears. The African Elephants grows up to 10 feet tall and 12,000 pounds in weight.

            The Indian Elephant grows up to 9 feet tall and up to 8,000 pounds in weight. It’s easier to identify because of its smaller ears (than African Elephant). Most circus elephants are Indian Elephant. Another name of Indian Elephant is Asian Elephant.

            The greatest threat to the elephants is the ivory trade. Most commercial ivory comes from elephant’s tusks. From 1979 to 1989 about 70,000 wild elephants were killed for ivory each year. In 1989 an international treaty limited the trade in ivory, decreasing the number of elephants killed, but elephants are still being killed for ivory.