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NOVA scienceNOW | How Smart Are Dolphins? | Season 5 | Episode 4 | PBS

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These brainy marine mammals can "read," plan ahead, and communicate in astounding ways.

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Find out how dolphins “speak” to each other.

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NOVA scienceNOW | How Smart Are Dolphins? | Season 5 | Episode 4 | PBS

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These brainy marine mammals can "read," plan ahead, and communicate in astounding ways.

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Find out how dolphins “speak” to each other.

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Find amazing facts about animals, science, history and geography, along with fun competitions, games and more. Visit National Geographic Kids today!

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THE BIGGER THE BETTER

Asian elephants live in the tropical forests and grasslands of Southeast Asia. They're a little smaller than African elephants but can grow nine feet tall and weigh nearly six tons. That's heavier than two medium-size cars! Even newborns are on the hefty side, weighing some 200 pounds. Given their size it's no surprise that these guys are big on food. Adults can eat 300 pounds in one day, nearly 75 times what the average human eats! An Asian elephant's ideal meal includes roots, grasses, fruit, and bark.

Much of an Asian elephant's time is spent searching for grub. In fact the animal may travel 50 miles a day to find food. Asian elephants also enjoy taking dips in the water. To cool down their backsides, the animals will fill their trunks with water and spray it over themselves like a hose.

SOCIAL NETWORK

Asian elephants are gentle and super-social. Related females live with their young in herds. (Adult males go off on their own.) To communicate with each other they use rumbles, bellows, growls, and moans. Some of their vocalizations can be heard more than a mile away. Talk about a long-distance call!

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A three-foot-deep watering hole in northeast India hums with buzzing insects and chirping birds. Suddenly seven Asian elephants stomp through the grass surrounding the pool and splash into the water. It's bath time for the herd. THE BIGGER THE BETTER Asian elephants live in the tropical forests and grasslands of Southeast Asia.

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Explore National Geographic. A world leader in geography, cartography and exploration.

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Cetaceanhabitat.org focuses on the habitat needs of whales, dolphins and porpoises and the creation and management of marine protected areas for cetaceans; it contains a directory of all MPAs and sanctuaries worldwide that feature or include cetacean habitat. The site also contains the latest news on campaigns, proposals and developments relating to marine habitat conservation.

Follow the links below for more information on:

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Cetacean Habitat - Marine Protected Areas

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Cetaceanhabitat.org focuses on the habitat needs of whales, dolphins and porpoises and the creation and management of marine protected areas for cetaceans; it contains a directory of all MPAs and sanctuaries worldwide that feature or include cetacean habitat. The site also contains the latest news on campaigns, proposals and developments relating to marine habitat conservation.

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When an elephant drinks, it sucks as much as 2 gallons (7.5 liters) of water into its trunk at a time. Then it curls its trunk under, sticks the tip of its trunk into its mouth, and blows. Out comes the water, right down the elephant's throat.

Since African elephants live where the sun is usually blazing hot, they use their trunks to help them keep cool. First they squirt a trunkful of cool water over their bodies. Then they often follow that with a sprinkling of dust to create a protective layer of dirt on their skin. Elephants pick up and spray dust the same way they do water-with their trunks.

Elephants also use their trunks as snorkels when they wade in deep water. An elephant's trunk is controlled by many muscles. Two fingerlike parts on the tip of the trunk allow the elephant to perform delicate maneuvers such as picking a berry from the ground or plucking a single leaf off a tree. Elephants can also use its trunk to grasp an entire tree branch and pull it down to its mouth and to yank up clumps of grasses and shove the greenery into their mouths.

When an elephant gets a whiff of something interesting, it sniffs the air with its trunk raised up like a submarine periscope. If threatened, an elephant will also use its trunk to make loud trumpeting noises as a warning.

Elephants are social creatures. They sometimes hug by wrapping their trunks together in displays of greeting and affection. Elephants also use their trunks to help lift or nudge an elephant calf over an obstacle, to rescue a fellow elephant stuck in mud, or to gently raise a newborn elephant to its feet. And just as a human baby sucks its thumb, an elephant calf often sucks its trunk for comfort. One elephant can eat 300 pounds (136 kilograms) of food in one day.

People hunt elephants mainly for their ivory tusks. Adult females and young travel in herds, while adult males generally travel alone or in groups of their own.

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When an elephant drinks, it sucks as much as 2 gallons (7.5 liters) of water into its trunk at a time. Then it curls its trunk under, sticks the tip of its trunk into its mouth, and blows. Out comes the water, right down the elephant's throat.

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Leopard sharks inhabit a narrow band of ocean and inlet areas in the Pacific Ocean between Oregon and the Gulf of Mexico. They are some of the most common sharks found along the coast of California. These sharks have dark, saddle-shaped splotches along the fins and upper body.

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Dolphins are aquatic mammals which live in most seas around the world. Like most mammals they are viviparous and breathe through their lungs. They are also very intelligent animals. Come meet this inc

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At first glance, African elephants look similar to Asian elephants, but they are different species that live in different parts of the world. Here are some helpful clues for telling the 2 species apart: African elephants have very large ears that are shaped like the continent of Africa, while Asian elephants have smaller ears.

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Are you in search or cool fun facts about our world, space, bugs, animals, dinosaurs, and much more? Then look no further! Here's a fun and exciting new series about some of the best topics ever! Learn basic facts, discover things you didn't know and find out the answers to your burning questions.

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Dolphin Facts
This is an easy to understand video about dolphins. They are highly intelligent and curious mammals. They are found globally, mostly in shallow seas of the continental shelves and are carnivores. They mostly eat fish and squid.
How many teeth do they have?
Some dolphins have 8 teeth and some are found with 250. Bottlenose dolphins have 72-104 teeth (approx.). They only get one set of teeth for their whole life. They do not use their teeth to chew their food. They only catch their food with the help of teeth and then swallow it whole at once.
Do they drink water?
No, they do not because they live in saltwater. They get their required amount of water from the fishes they eat. They choose the type of fish they are going to eat depending on the amount of calories and water they need.
Can they see Colors?
They can see colors in the shade of grey and blue-green spectrum.
Can they see above the water?
Yes they can. When they use their vision to look at objects under the water, they produce an oily substance which forms a layer of protection. They can also see very well at night like cats and dogs.
Do they have hair?
They are mammals so they must have hair. But they only have hair at the time of their birth. This hair is found on the top of the rostrum and falls out within two weeks.
Are Dolphins fish?
No, they are mammals.
Name the smallest dolphin.
In terms of length, New Zealand Dolphin and Vaquita are smallest and in terms of weight, Finless Porpoise is the lightest.
How do they sleep?
They only let one half of their brain sleep at time. They have to be conscious to continue breathing. If they went into a deep sleep, they would stop breathing.

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Learn something new by watching our fun Dolphin facts for kids video! Kids will enjoy learning about dolphins and other topics with our fun science videos!

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Meet the elephant, an endangered animal found throughout Africa and Asia that’s big on brainpower, big on appetite, and just plain BIG!

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Explore National Geographic. A world leader in geography, cartography and exploration.

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Our Mission - Through education, research and rescue, Dolphin Research Center promotes peaceful coexistence, cooperation and communication between marine mammals, humans and the environment we share with the well being of DRC's animals taking precedence.

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Kids Dolphin Facts - Dolphin Research Center

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Kids can learn about dolphins, sea lions, and marine mammals. Dolphin camp, riddles, puzzles and dolphin facts.

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Watch for free your favorite PBS KIDS shows like Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, Wild Kratts, Odd Squad, and Sesame Street.

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Explore National Geographic. A world leader in geography, cartography and exploration.

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Explore National Geographic. A world leader in geography, cartography and exploration.

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Sharks are a superorder of fish called the Selachimorpha. They, like other Chondrichthyes, have skeletons made of cartilage instead of bone. Cartilage is tough, rubbery material which is less rigid than bone. Cartilaginous fish also include skates and rays.

There are more than 350 different kinds of sharks, such as the great white and whale sharks. Fossils show that sharks have been around for 420 million years, since the early Silurian.

Most sharks are predators, meaning they hunt and eat fish, marine mammals, and other sea creatures. However, the largest shark eats krill, like whales. This is the whale shark, the largest fish in the world. Some common kinds of shark include the hammerhead shark, the great white shark, the tiger shark, and the mako shark.

Characteristics

Sharks come in many different shapes and sizes, but most are long and thin (also called streamlined), with powerful jaws. Their teeth are constantly replaced throughout their lives. Sharks eat so violently they often break a few teeth, so new teeth grow continuously in a groove just inside the mouth and move forward from inside the mouth on "conveyor belts" formed by the skin in which they are attached to. In its lifetime, a shark can lose and regrow as many as 30,000 teeth.

Even with all those teeth, though, sharks can not chew. So they bite their prey and jerk it around so they can pull of a chunk to swallow. The chunks of food that a shark swallows ends up in its stomach, where they are digested. This is pretty slow, however, so a meal might take several days to digest. This is why a shark does not eat every day.

Sharks have different-shaped teeth, depending on what they eat. For instance, some sharks have sharp, pointy teeth, while bottom dwelling sharks have cone-shaped teeth for crushing shells. Because there are so many different kinds of sharks, and because each kind has its own kind of special teeth, many people enjoy collecting shark teeth. Shark teeth collectors can guess how large a shark was by measuring the shark tooth! First, they measure the length of the tooth in inches. Every inch of tooth equals 10ft of shark length: so if a shark tooth is 2 inches long, the tooth came from a shark that was 20 ft long! Even more terrifying is that some of the teeth are 6 inches long so that suggets a shark 60 feet long.

Sharks have skin covered in millions of tiny teeth-like scales that point to the tail. If you rub along a shark towards the tail, it would feel smooth, but if you rub the other way, it would be rough. Sharks' teeth can be 20 times as big as human teeth and they can grow back if they are lost.

The fins of sharks are used for stabilizing, steering, lift and swimming. Each fin is used in a different manner.

There are one or two fins present along the dorsal midline called the first and second dorsal fin. These fins help the shark from constantly rolling around. These two fins may, or may not have spines. When spines are present, they are used for defensive purposes, and may also have skin glands with them that produce an irritating substance.

The pectoral fins are located behind the head and extend outwards. These fins are used for steering during swimming and help to provide the shark with lift.

The pelvic fins are located behind the pectoral fins, near the claoca, and are also stabilizers.

Not all sharks have anal fins, but if they do have them, they are found between the pelvic and caudal fins.

The tail region itself consists of the caudal peduncle and the caudal fin. The caudal peduncle sometimes has notches known as "precaudal pits", which are found just ahead of the caudal fin. The peduncle may also be horizontally flattened into lateral keels. The caudal fin has both, an upper lobe, and a lower lobe, that can be of different sizes and the shape depends of which species the shark is. The primary use of the caudal fin is to provide a "push" while the shark swims. The upper lobe of the caudal fin produces the most amount of the push, and usually forces the shark downwards. The pectoral fins and the shape of the body (like an airfoil) work together to counter this force. The strong, non-lunate caudal fin in most benthic shark species allows the shark to swim close to the seabed (such as the Nurse shark). However, the fastest swimming sharks (such as the Mako sharks) tend to have lunate-shaped (crescent-shaped) caudal fins.

Sharks have keen olfactory sense organs in the short duct between the front and back nasal openings. They can detect blood from miles away: as little as one part per million of blood in sea water may be enough.

Sharks have the ability to determine the direction of a given scent based on the timing of scent detection in each nostril. This is similar to the method mammals use to determine direction of sound.

They are more attracted to the chemicals found in the intestines of many species, and as a result often linger near or in sewage outfalls. Some species, such as nurse sharks, have external barbels that greatly increase their ability to sense prey.

Shark eyes are similar to the eyes of other vertebrates, including similar lenses, corneas and retinas. Their eyesight is well adapted to the marine environment. They can contract and dilate their pupils, like humans, something no teleost fish can do. A tissue behind the retina reflects light back, thereby increasing sight in darker waters.

Sensing electric current

Sharks have tiny holes all over the shark's snout, especially between the eye and the tip of the snout. In them are which are nerve receptors called the ampullae of Lorenzini. p23 They can sense electricity in the water. Animal in the water give off electricity: every time an animal's heart beats or it moves, tiny currents of electricity are made. These tiny electric currents make signals that travel through water and get sensed. Sharks may use this sense when they catch their prey, even more than they use their sight.

Although it is hard to test sharks' hearing, they may have a sharp sense of hearing and can possibly hear prey many miles away. A small opening on each side of their heads (not the spiracle) leads directly into the inner ear through a thin channel.

Lateral line

The lateral line detects changes in water pressure. It is open to the environment by a line of pores. This and the sound-detecting organs are grouped together as the 'acoustico-lateralis system', because they have a common origin. In bony fish and tetrapods the external opening into the inner ear has been lost.

This system is found in other fish as well. It detects motion or vibrations in water. The shark can sense frequencies in the range of 25 to 50 Hz.

Prehistoric sharks

Because sharks have skeletons made of cartilage, they do not fossilize easily. That's because cartilage is softer than bone and falls apart before fossilizing. However, teeth are harder, and if that is not enough, they are shed throughout a shark's lifetime. Therefore, shark teeth are one of the most common fossils.

Sharks existed for at least two hundred million years before the dinosaurs. The earliest shark fossils were scales, so could it be that the earliest sharks were toothless? We are not sure. Early sharks did not look like sharks of today. For example, the upper snout of modern sharks is longer than the lower jaw. But in early sharks, they were the same length.

The first modern-looking sharks appeared in the Age of Dinosaurs. Sharks back then were preyed on by giant sea reptiles.

Just a few million years ago, a giant shark called swam in the seas. It was 18 meters long, twice as long as the closely-related great white shark, and it ate whales. Megalodon died out 1.6 million years ago.

Reproduction

About 70% of all known shark species give birth to live young, with the gestation period lasting from 6 to 22 months.

Pups are born with a full set of teeth, and are capable of taking care of themselves. Once born, they quickly swim away from their mothers, who sometimes feed on the pups. Litters vary from one or two pups ( Great white shark) to one hundred pups ( Blue shark and Whale shark).

Some sharks are oviparous, laying their eggs in the water. Shark eggs (sometimes called "mermaid's purses") are covered by a tough, leathery membrane. The egg has a yolk that feeds the embryo, very much like a chicken egg.

Ovoviviparity

Most sharks are ovoviviparous, meaning the eggs hatch inside the female's body, with the babies developing within the mother, but there is no placenta to nourish the pups. Instead the young feed on the egg's yolk. The pups eat any unfertilized eggs and sometimes each other. Very few pups in a litter survive until birth due to this form of sibling cannibalism. Great white sharks, Mako sharks, Nurse sharks, Tiger sharks, and Sand tiger sharks reproduce this way.

Viviparity

Some sharks are viviparous, meaning that the females give live birth: the eggs hatch inside the female's body, and the babies are fed by a placenta. The placenta helps transfer nutrients and oxygen from the mother's bloodstream and transfers waste products from the baby to the mother for elimination. Examples of viviparous sharks include the Bull sharks, the Whitetip reef sharks, the Lemon sharks, the Blue sharks, the Silvertip sharks, and the Hammerhead sharks. Although long thought to be oviparous, Whale sharks are viviparous, and pregnant females have been found containing hundreds of pups.

New shark discoveries

New sharks are still being found. Dave Ebert has found ten new species in a Taiwan market alone. Over the past three decades he has named 24 new species. They include sharks, rays, sawfish and ghost sharks - these cartilaginous fish are all related.

Some sharks are not endangered, but some are hunted for food (like shark fin soup) or sport fishing. In 2013 five species of shark, along with two species of manta ray, received international protection as part of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

It is estimated that 100 million sharks are killed by commercial and recreational fishing. Sharks are a common seafood in many places, including Japan and Australia.

In the Australian state of Victoria, shark is the most commonly used fish in fish and chips, in which fillets are battered and deep-fried or crumbed and grilled. In fish and chip shops, shark is called "flake".

In India, small sharks or baby sharks (called sora in Tamil language, Telugu language) are sold in local markets. Since the flesh is not developed, cooking the flesh breaks it into powder, which is then fried in oil and spices (called sora puttu/sora poratu). The soft bones can be easily chewed. They are considered a delicacy in coastal Tamil Nadu.

Related Pages

Images for kids

Fossil shark tooth (size over 9 cm or 3.5 inches) with crown, shoulder, root and root lobe

in}} egg case adjacent to ruler, the egg case is a brown ovalish shape, with a spiral band running around it from top to bottom.

Snorkeler swims near a blacktip reef shark. In rare circumstances involving poor visibility, blacktips may bite a human, mistaking it for prey. Under normal conditions they are harmless and shy.

In Spanish: Selachimorpha para niños

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Entertain yourself viewing from the really best unique and really easy to understand American Alligator Facts easy science for kids video:
Information about this American Alligator Facts Video

Watch this good video and you'll learn a lot of fun facts about the American alligator. With this video, you will be able to know what the scientific name for an American alligator is, how they are found in South East United States and how a lot of them are found in Florida. You will also be able to learn how there are only 2 species of alligator in the world and how the other one is found in China. The video will share more facts like how long they can get, how the largest alligator recorded was 19 feet 2 inches, and show a real live alligator to point out some of their fascinating features and body parts.

Watch this useful American Alligator facts for kids video and considerably improve your kids' inner interest to learn science facts about American Alligator Facts.

This American Alligator Facts video is fantastic for children, from those kids partaking in early learning programs for pre-Kindergarten kids, to fifth grade, clearly also preschool kids and children who are schooled from home.

Well then, enrich your youngster's understanding with our available totally FREE educational videos for kids, one-by-one recommended by our senior assistant editor. These videos are an immense stack of science for kids videos available to you on our science kids website. See a lot more remarkable and educational yet enjoyable easy facts for kids on our EasySCIENCEforKids website about numerous more subjects of interest, and let your children take pleasure in doing our lots of ABSOLUTELY FREE worksheets, quizzes and kids's games.

Appreciated our selected American Alligator Facts video? Pore over expanded content about American Alligators.

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American Alligator Facts Video for Kids -

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Easy Science for Kids American Alligator Facts Video for Kids - learn fun facts about animals, the human body, our planet and much more. Fun free American Alligator Facts Video for Kids activities!

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Learn how dolphins eat, sleep, and live together. Bottlenose dolphins and orcas travel the ocean in pods.

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Although they are sometimes shown in movies as being mean or scary, gorillas are very gentle animals. They live in groups called troops that contain a silverback, many females, and offspring. The troop travels around the forest together looking for food during the day.

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We’ve been digging and digging, but we can’t find that page anywhere in our burrows.

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When a great white shark is born, along with up to a dozen siblings, it immediately swims away from its mother. Born on the east and west coasts of North America, the south of Africa and southwest Australia, baby sharks are on their own right from the start. Their mother may see them only as prey.

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When a great white shark is born, along with up to a dozen siblings, it immediately swims away from its mother. Born on the east and west coasts of North America, the south of Africa and southwest Australia, baby sharks are on their own right from the start.

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Physical Description

The critically endangered Chinese alligator differs from its American counterpart in subtle ways. It's smaller, the head is more robust and its snout is slightly upturned. The eyelids of the Chinese alligator have a bony plate that is missing in the American alligator. The American alligator also lacks the bony belly plates, or osteoderms, of the Chinese alligator.

Chinese alligators usually grow to about 5 feet (1.5 meters). The largest Chinese alligator measured in recent times was 7 feet and 1 inch--about half the size of the largest living American alligators. Some may weigh up to 85 pounds (38.5 kilograms); however, most weigh less than 50 pounds (23 kilograms).

Native Habitat

The Chinese alligator is the only member of the eight species in the Alligatoridae family to exist outside of the Americas. In historical times, the Chinese alligator was found in the extensive lakes and marshlands of the middle-lower Yangtze River region and along the river from Shanghai to Jianling City in the Hubei Province. Today it is limited to the lower Yangtze, primarily in the Anhui and Zhejiang provinces in eastern China.

Chinese alligators are found in slow-moving freshwater rivers and streams, including lakes, ponds and swamps. Marshlands, ponds, lakes, reservoirs, river backwater canals, rice paddies and irrigation networks provide suitable habitat.

Communication

Young vocalize to bring the group together and maintain its cohesion, while adults respond to juvenile distress calls. Bellowing occurs among males and females during the breeding season.

Food/Eating Habits

The Chinese alligator is an opportunistic feeder. Its diet mostly includes snails, crustaceans, insects and fish, but young waterfowl and rodents will be taken if available. Dentition includes blunt teeth adapted well to crushing shelled animals.

At the Smithsonian's National Zoo, Chinese alligators are fed small rats, mice and fish.

Reproduction and Development

The mating system is polygamous, as a male may breed with more than one female. Both sexes may react very aggressively to one another, especially in first encounter situations. Social life begins before hatching, as nest mates communicate egg to egg and with parents who open the egg chamber when synchronized hatching begins. Nest mates may spend weeks to years together in the protection of the mother.

Females mature at about four to five years. Mating occurs in early summer, with the females building nests about two to three weeks later and laying up to four-dozen eggs; fewer than two-dozen is common. Hatchlings generally emerge in September. Females provide parental care, including assisting the hatching process and carrying the newly hatched young from the nests, which are located on land, to the water.

Sleep Habits

This species digs extensive earthen tunnels with multiple chambers, entrances and pools. Largely nocturnal because of human persecution, they stay in their tunnels much of the day when humans are in the vicinity as well as during cool weather and winter months.

Each year in April, the alligators emerge from their winter burrows and find sunny spots in which to bask. As summer begins, they switch to more nocturnal feeding habits to avoid the heat and humans while they begin their annual mating rituals.

Chinese alligators can live up to 70 years in human care. They can reproduce into their 50s.

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The critically endangered Chinese alligator is one of the few alligators outside of the Americas. It is native to slow-moving, freshwater areas of the lower Yangtze River in China where it eats snails, crustaceans, insects, fish, young waterfowl and rodents.

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Thought to be some of the smartest animals on Earth, bottlenose dolphins send messages to one another in many different ways. They squeak, squawk and use body language—leaping as high as 20 feet in the air, snapping their jaws, slapping their tails on the surface of the water, blowing bubbles and ev…

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Watch to discover interesting facts about animals from all over the world.

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Watch to discover interesting facts about animals from all over the world.

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Explore National Geographic. A world leader in geography, cartography and exploration.

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The 8 Main Differences Between Alligators and Crocodiles

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Many people struggle to tell these two reptiles apart, but it isn't that difficult when you know what to look for. What is the difference between alligators and crocodiles? Well, there are essentially 8 main ways to tell them apart...

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Learn how dolphins eat, sleep, and live together. Bottlenose dolphins and orcas travel the ocean in pods.

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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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Sharks & Rays

Sharks have played a vital role in maintaining healthy oceans for hundreds of millions of years as a top predator. More than 450 species of sharks cruise the world's oceans, ranging in size from 8 inches to a whopping 40 feet long. But today, nearly one in four sharks and their relatives are threatened with extinction. A major cause is the demand for shark fins. Every year, fins from as many as 73 million sharks end up in the global fin trade.

Learn fun facts and how you can help your favorite sharks - from great white sharks to hammerhead sharks - by clicking a species below.

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Sharks & Rays Sharks have played a vital role in maintaining healthy oceans for hundreds of millions of years as a top predator. More than 450 species of sharks cruise the world's oceans, ranging in size from 8 inches to a whopping 40 feet long.

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Only two species of these sneaky predators still cruise the rivers, lakes and swamps of the world.

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Watch full episodes, specials and documentaries with National Geographic TV channel online.

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ReadWorks | Award-Winning, EdTech Nonprofit Organization

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ReadWorks is an edtech nonprofit organization that is committed to helping to solve America's reading comprehension crisis.

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Outdoor Nevada | Burrowing Owl | PBS LearningMedia

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In this video segment from Outdoor Nevada, listen as Brian Wignall describes the burrowing owl. Observe unique adaptive characteristics and behaviors that allow the only ground-dwelling owl to live and thrive over a wide area of western North and South America.

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Discover The Great White Shark Habitat Map | SEEtheWILD

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A simplified map that helps you learn about the Great White Shark Habitat across all the oceans, including prime breeding grounds.

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National Geographic | Disney Australia & New Zealand - Disney Australia

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National Geographic invites you to live curious through movies that will inspire you to find out more about the people, places and events of our world.

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Bottle Nose Dolphin

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Watch to discover interesting facts about animals from all over the world.

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Gorilla Facts - Silverback, Mountain, Zoo, Food, Habitat, Africa, Endangered, Info

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ReadWorks | Award-Winning, EdTech Nonprofit Organization

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ReadWorks is an edtech nonprofit organization that is committed to helping to solve America's reading comprehension crisis.

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The great horned owl gets its name from the tufts of feathers on its head that look like ears. But the owl's ears are really farther down on the side of its head, and are just openings in the skull hidden beneath feathers.

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The largest Shark known right now!

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Newsela | Instructional Content Platform

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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Explore our wide variety of animal facts and learn some fun trivia about our friends in the animal kingdom.

Fun Alligator Facts for Kids

Check out our range of fun alligator facts for kids. Learn about alligator's powerful bite, how much they weigh, what they eat and much more. Read on and enjoy a variety of interesting information about alligators.

Alligators are reptiles.

Alligators have been living on Earth for millions of years and are sometimes described as 'living fossils'.

There are two different species of alligator, the American alligator and the Chinese alligator.

American alligators live in south-eastern areas of the United States such as Florida and Louisiana.

Chinese alligators are found in the Yangtze River but they are critically endangered and only a few remain in the wild.

Like other reptiles, alligators are cold-blooded.

Alligators can weigh over 450 kg (1000 lb).

Alligators have a powerful bite but the muscles that open the jaw are relatively weak. An adult human could hold the jaws of an alligator shut with their bare hands.

Alligators eat a range of different animals such as fish, birds, turtles and even deer.

Alligator eggs become male or female depending on the temperature, male in warmer temperatures and female in cooler temperatures.

Alligators are less likely to attack humans than crocodiles.

Like crocodiles, alligators are part of the order 'Crocodylia'.

Check out some interesting alligator and crocodile differences.

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Fun Alligator Facts for Kids - Interesting Information about Alligators

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Explore our wide variety of animal facts and learn some fun trivia about our friends in the animal kingdom. Fun Alligator Facts for Kids Check out our range of fun alligator facts for kids. Learn about alligator's powerful bite, how much they weigh, what they eat and much more.

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For a long time the image most people had of a gorilla encounter included chest pounding, roaring, charging, and big, bared teeth. But researchers studying gorillas reveal a very different picture of mountain gorillas. The animals are peaceful, gentle, social, and mainly vegetarian creatures. The occasional ferocious-looking, impressive displays are generally from a male gorilla protecting his family group from a threat.

A typical group is led by the biggest and strongest mature male gorilla-often the guy doing any chest pounding or charging. He's called a silverback because the hair on a male's back turns from black to silvery gray as he matures. This happens when he is between 11 and 13 years old. A silverback's group normally includes a subadult male or two and a few females and their young. Mountain gorillas wander around a home range of up to 15 square miles (39 square kilometers).

Mountain gorillas spend much of their time eating. Their food includes a variety of plants, along with a few insects and worms. At night the animals make a nest to sleep in. Many lightweight gorillas nest in trees, making beds of bent branches. The heavier individuals may nest in grasses on the ground. Babies snuggle with their mothers for the night.

Life for mountain gorillas isn't all peaceful. They are endangered, threatened by civil war in a small area of Africa where they live. Hunters kill them for food or trophies. Their forests are chopped down for farmland, fuel, and housing. But many dedicated scientists, park rangers, and other concerned people are working hard to protect mountain gorillas, their forests, and their way of life in the mountains.

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Youngsters tumble, climb, and run playing follow the leader. Another group plays a rowdy game of king of the mountain. Several adults watch the action, relaxing nearby. Is this a playground scene at school? No, guess again. It's a lush mountain forest high in the Virunga mountains of Africa, and the playmates are young mountain gorillas under the watchful eyes of their mothers.

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When an elephant drinks, it sucks as much as 2 gallons (7.5 liters) of water into its trunk at a time. Then it curls its trunk under, sticks the tip of its trunk into its mouth, and blows. Out comes the water, right down the elephant's throat.

Since African elephants live where the sun is usually blazing hot, they use their trunks to help them keep cool. First they squirt a trunkful of cool water over their bodies. Then they often follow that with a sprinkling of dust to create a protective layer of dirt on their skin. Elephants pick up and spray dust the same way they do water-with their trunks.

Elephants also use their trunks as snorkels when they wade in deep water. An elephant's trunk is controlled by many muscles. Two fingerlike parts on the tip of the trunk allow the elephant to perform delicate maneuvers such as picking a berry from the ground or plucking a single leaf off a tree. Elephants can also use its trunk to grasp an entire tree branch and pull it down to its mouth and to yank up clumps of grasses and shove the greenery into their mouths.

When an elephant gets a whiff of something interesting, it sniffs the air with its trunk raised up like a submarine periscope. If threatened, an elephant will also use its trunk to make loud trumpeting noises as a warning.

Elephants are social creatures. They sometimes hug by wrapping their trunks together in displays of greeting and affection. Elephants also use their trunks to help lift or nudge an elephant calf over an obstacle, to rescue a fellow elephant stuck in mud, or to gently raise a newborn elephant to its feet. And just as a human baby sucks its thumb, an elephant calf often sucks its trunk for comfort. One elephant can eat 300 pounds (136 kilograms) of food in one day.

People hunt elephants mainly for their ivory tusks. Adult females and young travel in herds, while adult males generally travel alone or in groups of their own.

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When an elephant drinks, it sucks as much as 2 gallons (7.5 liters) of water into its trunk at a time. Then it curls its trunk under, sticks the tip of its trunk into its mouth, and blows. Out comes the water, right down the elephant's throat.

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Explore National Geographic. A world leader in geography, cartography and exploration.

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Come learn cool and interesting facts about sharks in this educational video! Where do sharks live? What do sharks eat? How many different…

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Brought back from the brink of extinction, over a million of these reptiles survive today. Now the main threat to alligators is habitat destruction, caused by such human activities as draining and developing wetlands.

American alligators live in the wild in the southeastern United States. You're most likely to spot them in Florida and Louisiana, where they live in rivers, lakes, ponds, swamps, bayous, and marshes. These reptiles are kind of clumsy on land, but they're built for life in the water. Great swimmers, they are equipped with webbed feet and strong tails that propel them through the water.

An average male American alligator is 10 to 15 feet (three to five meters) long. Half of its length is its massive, strong tail. An alligator can weigh as much as half a ton (1,000 pounds), but an average male weighs between 500 and 600 pounds (227 to 272 kilograms). Females are usually smaller than males.

As big and ferocious as the female alligator may look, she is a gentle mother. A mother alligator makes a nest on shore, where she lays her eggs. Then she guards her eggs until they're ready to hatch. At that point the babies start to make noises, and their mother hears her little ones' peeps as they break out of the eggs. She gently carries them-in her mouth-to the water nearby.

Newly hatched young are only about six to eight inches (15 to 20 centimeters) long, and very vulnerable. Their mother protects them from predators, which include raccoons, bobcats, birds, and even other alligators. The young alligators stay with their mother for up to two years. After that, they're able to fend for themselves.

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American alligators once faced extinction. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service placed them on the endangered species list in 1967. Fortunately, the legal protection worked. Just 20 years later, American alligators were taken off the list. Brought back from the brink of extinction, over a million of these reptiles survive today.

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Dolphin Article and Videos

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a comprehensive suite of e-learning resources designed for all ages and abilities with articles

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A comprehensive suite of e-learning resources designed for all ages and abilities with articles, videos, educator tools, eBooks, research guides and more.

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Learn about the Gorilla, strong and intelligent African primate that is endangered.

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Elephants: Learn about the biggest land animal.

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Why do Elephants have big ears, trunks, tusks? Learn about elephants, the endangered giants of India and Africa

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This small bird, found in North and South America, is different from most other owls. While other owls are active only at night, a burrowing owl hunts during the day as well as at night. Instead of nesting in a hollow high up in a tree, it nests in an underground burrow.