Interesting facts about elephants. How long does an elephant live in nature

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:41

The elephant is the largest land mammal. To date, there are three types of these animals: the Indian elephant, the African savanna and the African forest. The maximum recorded weight of an elephant is 12,240 kg, while the average body weight of these animals is about 5 tons. What other interesting facts about elephants do you know? Want to know more about these animals? Then read on.

How long does an elephant live?

The life expectancy of an elephant is influenced by the conditions of its habitat. Under natural conditions, animals are constantly faced with dangers, in particular with drought and poachers who kill elephants for valuable tusks. Up to 8-10 years old, small elephants cannot defend themselves on their own, and in the event of the death of their mother, they die from predators. How long does an elephant live in nature? The average lifespan of an elephant is between 60 and 70 years.

At the same time, long-livers are known among animals living in captivity. The oldest elephant named Lin Wang lived to be 86 years old.(1917-2003). He participated in the Second Sino-Japanese War, then in the construction of monuments, performed in the circus, but lived most of his life in the Taipei Zoo in Taiwan. Lin Wang has been listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest living elephant in captivity.

How long does an elephant's pregnancy last?

Interestingly, the female elephant is capable of conception only a few days a year, despite the fact that mating between animals can occur all year round. An amazing fact is how long an elephant's pregnancy lasts. On this basis, large mammals are champions among all animals on earth. The female's pregnancy lasts 22 months, which is almost 2 years.

After this period, a baby elephant is born, which can hardly be called small. The weight of a baby elephant is 120 kg. Childbirth usually takes place without complications. Babies are born blind and often suck their trunks like a human thumb. But no matter how strong a baby elephant is born, it is a rather helpless animal that needs protection from predators. Only at the age of 15 does an animal become an adult and can start a family of its own.

How much does an elephant eat?

In their natural habitat, the elephant's diet includes leaves and grass containing a high percentage of moisture. Depending on the season of drought and rains, it can also feed on the bark and fruits of various trees and shrubs. Considering the size of the animal, it is not at all surprising how much an elephant eats. Moreover, he spends up to 16 hours on this. Every day, the animal eats from 45 to 450 kg of plant food, on average - about 300 kg.

This is how much an elephant eats in natural conditions. In captivity, their diet includes hay (30 kg), carrots (10 kg) and bread (5-10 kg). They can also be given grain and various mineral-vitamin complexes that make up for the lack of nutrients. Elephants drink about 100-300 liters per day. If the animal begins to drink more, as a rule, this indicates a disease. With tuberculosis, an elephant can drink up to 600 liters of water a day.

Trunk, tusks and ears

What is known about the elephant's trunk? Here are some interesting facts about this organ:

• The trunk is part of an elephant's nose, but does not have a nasal bone;
• long and flexible trunk consists of 150 thousand different muscles that control it;
• with the help of a trunk, an elephant can suck up up to 8 liters of water at a time, in order to then send it to the mouth;
• Elephant's trunk is only used by animals to get water, but they do not drink it (if they tried to drink through it, it would cause the same cough reflex as humans);
• an elephant can lift up to 350 tons of food with its trunk;
• trunk length is about 150cm;
• Elephants can easily swim across deep rivers thanks to their trunks - this organ serves as their built-in oxygen tube, the tip of which they hold above the water while their body is completely submerged in the river.

Elephants use more than their trunks to dig and liftbut also tusks. The length of the tusks of African elephants can reach 2.5 m, and weight - 100 kg. During sleep, the old elephant puts his tusks on the branches of trees or shrubs, while in captivity he puts them in the openings of the lattice or rests against the wall.

One ear of an elephant weighs 85 kg. This part of their body is an excellent thermoregulator. When the air temperature reaches 40 ° C and the animal is hot, it actively swings its ears like propellers. In rain and strong winds, the elephant, on the contrary, presses its ears tightly to its head.

Are elephants afraid of mice?

The assertion that elephants are afraid of mice appeared in ancient times thanks to the Roman philosopher Pliny the Elder. In one of his writings, he wrote that elephants are more afraid of mice and rats than other animals.

Modern scientists have completely refuted the discovery of their "colleague". Their research proved that an elephant and a mouse could well live side by side, if not for one "but". The fact is that the elephant, like a slow animal, is annoyed by any sudden movements in its direction. Even if a dog just runs or a snake crawls quickly, this will make him very worried. If the elephant is shown a mouse peacefully sitting on his hand, he will not react to it in any way, and if it crawls into the trunk, then the elephant will simply shake it out with a sharp movement.

Thus, scientists have proven that the claim that elephants are afraid of mice is just a myth.

Smart animals

Elephants are self-aware and see their own reflection in a mirror, just like dolphins and some speciesmonkeys. Animals are among the smartest on earth.

Interesting facts about elephants, confirming their high level of intelligence:

• Their brain weighs 5 kg, which is more than that of other animals.
• Elephants are able to express any emotion, including joy, grief, compassion. This animal can save a trapped dog even at the cost of its own life.
• The elephant has unique learning abilities, he repeats the commands of people and reproduces them.
• Elephants use 470 stable signals to communicate. Using ultrasound, they warn each other of dangers.
• Elephants observe burial rites. They bury the deceased member of the herd, covered with stones, after which they sit in place for several days, expressing grief.

More interesting facts about elephants

This is not all the features of the life of elephants that can surprise. Below are some more interesting facts about elephants:

• An elephant's sense of smell is 4 times stronger than a bloodhound's, thanks to the million receptor cells located in the animal's upper nasal cavity.
• But the vision of elephants is not so sharp. They can see the object only at a distance of 20-25 m. In ancient times, hunters sat on the back of a tamed elephant and penetrated into the middle of the herd, looking for a victim.
• An elephant's heart weighs 20 kg and beats at a rate of 30 beats per minute.
• Elephant teeth change 6-7 times in a lifetime.
• Elephants are both right-handed and left-handed. This is determined bytusk, which the animal prefers to work with.
• Elephants sleep an average of 2-3 hours a day, and most of the time they spend looking for food and eating it.