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Do you know what makes an elephant feel good

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Elephant facts

1) There are threedifferent species of elephant - the African Savannah elephant, the African Forest elephant and the Asian elephant. Elephants are known for their large ears, tusks made of ivory and their trunks.

2) Elephants are the world's largest land animal! Male African elephants can reach 3m tall and weigh between 4,000 -7,500kg. Asian elephants are slightly smaller, reaching 2.7m tall and weighing 3,000- 6,000kg.

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3) There's an easy way to tell the African elephants apart from their Asian cousins - their ears! African elephants have large ears shaped like the continent of Africa! Asian elephants' ears are smaller and shaped like India. Cool, huh?

4) You can tell a lot about an elephant by looking at their tusks! Elephant tusks never stop growing, so enormous tusks can be a sign of an old elephant. Both male and female African elephants grow tusks, but only male Asian elephants grow them. A tusk-less adult elephant is likely to be a female Asian elephant.

5) Until recently, African Forest elephants were thought to be a subspecies of the African elephant, but new research discovered that they are actually a separate species entirely. These elephants live in the tropical forests of Africa's Congo Basin. They have straighter tusks and more rounded ears than Savannah elephants.

6) These magnificent mammals spend between 12 to 18 hours eating grass, plants and fruit every single day! They use their long trunks to smell their food and lift it up into their mouth - yum!

7) All that eating means one thing, gang, an awful lot of poo! Each elephant creates about one tonne of poo per week, which keeps the soil fertile and disperses tree seeds. Elephants also dig waterholes and create footpaths, literally changing the landscape around them!

8) In Mount Elgon National Park in , a group of elephants use their tusks to mine for salt in underground caves! They feel their way around with their trunks and eat the salts by breaking them off with their tusks.

9) Elephants have created their very own sunscreen! After a river or swamp bath, they'll throw mud and sand up and over themselves to protect their skin from the hot, burning sun. Clever!

10) Sadly, elephants are in trouble. Many are killed by humans for their ivory tusks, because they've come into conflict with communities or simply for sport. There are far fewer Asian elephants than there are African elephants. Asian elephants also face threats from tourist attractions where people pay to ride on their backs or watch them paint pictures using their trunks.

Check out more articles about awesome elephants! Read our interview with Harry Potter star Evanna Lynch to find out how she's helping elephants, and learn how one young boy is taking action to save these incredible animals.

What did you think of our elephant facts? Let us know by leaving a comment, below!

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Elephant facts | Animals | National Geographic Kids

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Discover awesome elephant facts with Nat Geo Kids. You'll discover different elephant species, learn where they live and more...

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But the elephant's fear has more to do with the element of surprise than the mouse itself. Theories abound that elephants are afraid of mice because the tiny creatures nibble on their feet or can climb up into their trunks.

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The elephant is associated with Buddha and the Indian deity Ganesh and can be used to symbolize power, wisdom, strength, protection of the home, fertility, and general good luck. Many Feng Shui practitioners believe that elephants should have their trunks facing upwards to represent prosperity, good luck, and success.

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African elephants are the largest land mammals on the planet. 2. One of the largest known elephants was Jumbo, hose name is thought to be derived from the Swahili word for 'boss' or 'chief.' ... Elephants brains weigh 5 kg, much more than the brain of any other land animal.

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Elephants for Children: Learn All About Elephants - FreeSchool

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Elephants are the largest land animals on Earth. They have characteristic long noses, or trunks; large, floppy ears; and wide, thick legs. ... The Asian elephant and the African elephant live on separate continents and have many unique features.

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Human Nature - Conservation International Blog

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Editor's note: On April 18, Conservation International will release its new virtual reality film, "," at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. The film tells the story of a young Samburu woman in Kenya whose community is working to save elephants, reknitting an ancient coexistence between people and wildlife. In anticipation of the launch, Human Nature is highlighting stories about the people, places and wildlife of "My Africa."
Surveys suggest there are only about 415,000 African elephants left in the wild, down from over one million a generation ago. Each year, tens of thousands of elephants are killed by ivory-seeking poachers and other forms of conflict.

On top of being amazing creatures, elephants actually make life better for all of us, sometimes in surprising ways. Here, Human Nature explores four ways elephants benefit your life.

Elephants plant trees and fight climate change.

Studies have shown that elephants help protect forest health in central Africa by distributing the seeds of trees. Because they roam over such great distances, elephants play a key role in spreading tree seedlings far and wide. Scientists have documented lower tree diversity in forests that have lost elephants, meaning a less healthy and resilience forest. Keeping forests healthy ensures they will continue to store carbon in their trunks, roots and soils, which in turn helps reduce the effects of climate change.

Protecting elephants increases security.

Poaching and wildlife trafficking undermine the safety of local villages by causing violence between hunters and communities. But at the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in Kenya, rangers are trained and credentialed as police reservists, who respond to both wildlife and non-wildlife crimes in the area.

Conservation International has helped to establish ranger patrols in the nearby Northern Rangelands Trust to defend the community and its wildlife from invading poachers. According to Conservation International CEO Dr. M. Sanjayan, this work is already making local allies by focusing on security and well-being.

"I once asked a woman, 'What has conservation brought to you?' And she said to me, 'Conservation allows me to sleep with my shoes off at night.' What she meant was that, because there is security in the region now, she doesn't have to put on her shoes to flee when raiders come in."

Elephants are " ecosystem engineers ": They push over trees to maintain savanna ecosystems, excavate waterholes and fertilize land, which helps other animals thrive. Elephants have also been shown to be an effective focal species for conservation planning, as their habitat is highly correlated to other large mammals and species of conservation interest. Elephants are found in a wide variety of ecosystems, including savannas, grasslands and forests, but also deserts, swamps and mountains. Protecting elephant habitat helps many other species as well.
What can you do?
A thriving tourist trade enables elephants to bring in money for local communities. A study estimated the tourism value of an elephant at US$ 1.6 million throughout its lifetime. These economics can be seen in Botswana, southern Africa's most prosperous country and home to Africa's largest elephant population. Tourism - most of it centered on the country's wildlife-accounts for about 10 percent of the country's economy. That figure has grown as Botswana has strengthened its protection of elephants.

At the Reteti Elephant Sanctuary in Kenya, the first elephant orphanage in Africa owned and operated by the local community, featured in " My Africa," community members are employed in saving orphaned elephants and returning them to the wild. The community now benefits directly from wildlife tourism. The revenue generated from healthy elephant populations means community members can improve their homes, expand their businesses and send their children to school.
"My Africa" was produced with the support of The Tiffany & Co. Foundation and in conjunction with Passion Pictures and Vision3. Additional support for distribution was provided by glassybaby. Morgan Lynch is a staff writer for Conservation International. Want to read more stories like this? Sign up for email updates here. Donate to Conservation International here. Further reading
To help keep elephants around, African nations are leading the Elephant Protection Initiative, a coalition of 18 African nations committed to closing their ivory markets and eliminating or placing their ivory stockpiles out of commercial use. As co-secretariat, Conservation International is working to support this African stand for elephants.

Conservation International supports the Sarara initiative, a partnership with the Northern Rangelands Trust to protect wildlife and expand ecotourism in Northern Kenya's Namunyak Wildlife Conservancy. The initiative also supports the Reteti Elephant Sanctuary, which saves orphaned elephants together with the local Samburu community.

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4 things you didn't know elephants do for you - Human Nature -...

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Editor's note: On April 18, Conservation International will release its new virtual reality film, " ," at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. The film tells the story of a young Samburu woman in Kenya whose community is working to save elephants, reknitting an ancient coexistence between people and wildlife.