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🦁 Animal world 🐘 Mammals

Elephant

Elephant

πŸ“– In short

Have you ever heard of an animal that smells with its nose, drinks with it, carries things with it and shakes hands with its friends with it? It's the elephant! The elephant is the biggest land animal, very clever, with an excellent memory. There are two main kinds: the African elephant with big ears, and the Asian elephant with smaller ears.

🀩 Did you know?

  • An adult African elephant can weigh more than 6000 kilograms, about as much as four cars!
  • An elephant can eat about 150 kilograms of plants a day.
  • A baby elephant stays in its mother's belly for about 22 months, the longest of any animal.
  • An elephant's tusk is really a very long tooth that keeps growing.

πŸ”Ž Find out more

🌟 The trunk: a magic tool

The trunk is the elephant's nose and upper lip together, with thousands of muscles. The elephant uses it to pick leaves, spray water on its back for a bath, lift heavy things, and even hug its baby!

πŸ” Ears like fans

The African elephant lives in hot places, so it flaps its big ears back and forth to cool its body, like two big fans.

πŸ’‘ A caring family

Elephants live in herds led by a wise old female. Herd members work together to care for and protect the young, and talk with very low sounds that travel long distances.

🎯 A big eater

An elephant spends most of its day eating! It eats grass, leaves, fruit and tree bark, and needs a huge amount of food and water every day.

πŸ“Έ More pictures

Elephant
Elephant
Elephant

🧩 Test yourself

1 Why does an African elephant flap its big ears?

2 Who usually leads an elephant herd?

3 An adult African elephant can weigh more than ?? kilograms, about as much as four cars!

4 Which picture shows β€œElephant”?

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πŸ“· Picture sources: Wikimedia Commons