List of amazing facts about elephants

Did you know that elephants hold grudges? Learn more interesting African elephant facts now

1. Elephants live in herds guided by oldest and wisest female member. Male elephants will leave the herd when they reach 12 years. They will form "bachelor" herds before they become old enough for a solitary life (life on their own).
2. Elephants sleep 2-3 hours per day. They spend the rest of the time in eating. Elephants are vegetarians (eat only plants). An adult elephant needs to drink around 210 litres of water a day.
3. It’s true that elephants aren’t fans of tiny critters.
4. African elephants avoid eating a type of acacia tree that is home to ants because they don’t want the ants to get inside their trunks, which are full of sensitive nerve endings.
5. Elephant's favorite food is acacia. If ants crawl on the tree, elephants will move away from the tree because ants can injure elephant's sensitive trunk.
6. Trunk is a large and muscular fusion of elephant's nose and upper lip.
7. Young elephants (babies) suck their trunks just like human babies suck their thumbs. This provides comfort.
8. Elephants that live in captivity can use their trunks for the artistic purposes. They can hold the brush and paint various pictures.
9. Elephants sleep standing up.
10. Elephants communicate within their herds or between herds many kilometers away by stamping their feet and making sounds too low for human ears to perceive.
11. Both female and male African elephants have tusks, but only male Asian elephants have tusks.
12. An elephant can use its tusks to dig for ground water.
13. Elephant's skin is one inch thick, but it can burn on the sun if it is not protected. Elephants use mud to cover their skin and protect it from the sun.
14. Elephants communicate by producing the sounds that humans can't hear and by producing vibrations in the ground using their feet.
15. Elephants perform "burial ceremony" when they lose a member of the herd. They gather around the body and stay in silence for a while. They will use branches to cover the body before they leave.
16. Elephants can recognize themselves in the mirror. Just few animals beside human toddlers are able to do that.
17. They evolved large, thin ears to help regulate their body temperature and keep cool.
18. The elephant’s trunk is able to sense the size, shape, and temperature of an object.

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