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Elephants are the worlds largest land mammal. A mammal is a species that is born and not hatched from an egg. Mammals have lungs that breathe air. When a female mammal gives birth, their bodies produce milk to feed their babies. Humans are also mammals.

A well-known prehistoric ancestor to the elephant is a woolly mammoth.

The scientific name for an African Elephant is Loxodonta africana and the scientific name for an Asian Elephant is Elephas Maximus.

A female elephant is called a cow. A male elephant is called a bull and a baby elephant is called a calf.

African Elephants vs Asian Elephants

There are two types of Asian Elephants and African Elephants.

African Elephants live in forests, savannas, grasslands throughout Africa.

The African savanna elephant sometimes called the bush elephant is the largest type of elephant.

Asian elephants live in the Southwest part of Asia and also in India. Asian elephants live in tropical forests and mountain forests. A mountain forest is a forest located at a high altitude over 2,500 meters above sea level.

Asian elephants are sometimes divided into fours sub-species the Indian, Sir Lankan, Sumatran and the baby-faced pygmy elephants of Borneo.

African elephants are larger than Asian Elephants. They also have longer trunks and legs and bigger ears.

All African elephants have tusks. Female Asian elephants do not have tusks, some of the males do.

Asian elephants have long thick hairs and African elephants have hardly any hairs.

Elephant Body

An elephant has a large body with a head, four legs, tail, trunk, and tusks. Their skin is very thick and has a rough feel to it.

Elephants have large ears and excellent hearning. Scientists believe by waving their ears helps them stay cool. Elephants also use their ears to express emotion. They will flap their ears when greeting other elephants or are happy. They will push them out and make them look when they feel they are in danger.

Elephants are gray in color.

Elephants grow long teeth, these are called tusks. Tusks never stop growing. Male African Elephants can grow tusks as long as 8ft. Elephant tusks are made out of ivory. Elephants don't have any natural predators, but, humans have been known to kill elephants for their ivory tusks. It is illegal to kill elephants for their ivory, however, poachers are still killing elephants and selling their ivory on the black market. Poaching is when an animal is killed illegally.

Elephant Trunk

Elephants are well-known for their large trunk. An Elephant trunk is made to move in many ways. This helps elephants use their trunk in many different ways.

- Elephants use their trunk to get food and put in their mouth.

Drink- Elephants use their trunk to suck up water after they suck up the water, they squirt the water in their mouth.

Bathe- Elephants also use their trunk to suck up water and spray it over their body to get clean.

Smell- An elephant's trunk is their nose. Elephants use their trunk to smell objects in front of them.

Play- An elephant uses its trunk to greet each other and play.

Attention- Baby calves will raise their trunk to get attention from their mothers and other elephants.

Greeting- Elephants will sometimes greet each other by putting their tusks in each other's mouths.

An elephant's trunk is not only useful but it's also very strong. Their trunk has about 50,000 muscles and no bones. The trunk is strong enough to lift and move trees out of the way! Adult elephants can lift up to 550 pounds using their trunks.

Elephant trunks have "fingers" at the end of it to help the elephant grab objects. An African Elephant has two "fingers" and an Asian Elephant has one "finger."

Largest Land Mammal

Elephants are around 200 pounds when they are born. That's one big baby!

An adult African male elephant can grow to be 12 feet tall and weigh up to 7 tons! A ton is 2,000 pounds. So some elephants can grow up to 14,000 pounds. That is one big animal!

An adult Asian male elephant can grow to be 10 feet tall and weight 2-5 tons.

Female elephants are smaller than males and weigh less.

Elephants are herbivores meaning they only eat plants and vegetables. They do not eat meat. Elephants like to eat berries other fruit, roots, bark, grass, and leaves.

An adult elephant can spend 16 hours of their day eating. An adult elephant eats between 300-600 pounds of food every day. How do they eat all that food? An elephant has four large teeth that they slide back and forth to chew their food. All that chewing wears on elephants teeth. They grow new teeth to replace the old ones. Elephants can go through six sets of teeth in their lifetime.

Since elephants spend so much of their day eating, they spend a lot of time pooping too. An elephant can poop 12-15 times a day all that poop can add up to 300 pounds a day!

Eating all that food can make an elephant thirsty. Elephants can drink between 40-50 gallons of eater every day. Elephants have been known to dig up the ground in search of water.

Elephants travel in herds. A herd is a group of 8 to 30 elephants. Elephant herds are led by females. The leader of the herd is called a matriarch. The matriarch is the oldest female in the group. The matriarch is in charge of finding water and food for the herd.

Male elephants or bulls will stay with the herd for about 12 years. Once they become a full adult they will leave the herd to live with other young male elephants. Once they grow older, they will move on again to live alone.

A mother elephant is pregnant with her baby for 22 months.

A baby elephant is called a calf. A calf is about 200 pounds when they are born. Calves are able to stand and walk only after an hour after they are born.

Calves will suck on its trunk just like some babies suck their fingers or thumbs.

When they are born, they start drinking milk from their mother. A calf will only have their mother's milk for the first couple of months of life. After a couple of months, they will start to eat plants. This is similar to a human baby who also only drinks milk from their mother or formula for their first couple of months, then they will start eating baby food.

A calf will drink up to 3 gallons of milk each day from the age of two years old until they are 10.

When a calf is born it will join the herd. The members of the elephant herd will gather around the new calf to greet him or her. They will make trumpet sounds and touch the calf with their trunk to show how happy they are for the birth of the baby.

It takes an elephant 10-15 years before becoming an adult. Adult male elephants will leave their families and find a new herd. Female elephants stay with their mother's herd.

All members of the herd will help take care of and protect the calf.

Calves love to play just like kids. They will climb on each other and play by using their trunks.

Scientists discovered that elephants sing. They use an ultrasound rumble too low for humans to hear to keep the herd together and to find mates.

Elephants have been taught to paint too. Elephants have been working with people for thousands of years. They have helped carry large objects and have been used for transportation and also used to scare enemies during invasions. Today some elephants are in shows and parades. People work with elephants to teach them commands such as "come" and "bring." Now elephants have been taught to paint too.

Elephants have been taught to use their trunks to hold a paintbrush. Their teacher will pass them a paintbrush will paint on it and direct the elephant to the paper to paint. When the elephant wants a new color he or she will give the paintbrush back to the teacher. When they no longer want to paint they will drop the paintbrush and walk away.

Elephants sleep about 2 hours per day.

Elephants need a lot of water for drinking, swimming and staying clean. They will walk hundreds of miles in search of a source of water.

Elephants like to swim and splash in the water. Once they are finished swimming members of the herd will help each other throw dust all over themselves. The dusk will act as sunblock and bug repellent. Elephants also roll around in the mud to keep cool.

Elephants play an important role in the circle of life. They are "keystone species" which means their existence in important for other plants and animals to survive. As they roam through forests, they push down trees and clear paths. The leaves of the fallen trees become food for the smaller animals. The clear paths also help smaller animals pass through the forest. Their large piles of poop or dung also serve as a food source for dung beetles.

The average lifespan for an elephant is 60-70 years.

Refrences:

Elephants by Julie Murray
The Elephant by Jenni Desmond
Baby Elephant Joins the Herd American Museum and Natural History
Elephants Can Paint Too! by Katya Arnold

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Elephant Facts for Kids - Kids Play and Create

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Elephant Facts for Kids Click here for more animal facts What is an Elephant? Elephants are the worlds largest land mammal. A mammal is a species that is born and not hatched from an egg. Mammals have lungs that breathe air. When a female mammal gives birth, their bodies produce milk to feed ...

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Elephant Facts - African, Asian, Wild, Food, Interesting Information

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There are two types of elephant, the Asian elephant and the African elephant (although sometimes the African Elephant is split into two species, the African Forest Elephant and the African Bush Elephant).

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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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Here are some of the most exciting gorilla facts for kids including real insights about the gorillas diet, habitat, reproduction, and behavior. Gorillas are the largest primates that belong to the genus eponymous. These mammals are primarily herbivorous and are known to spend all their time on grounds all throughout central Africa and other tropical forests.

Gorillas are also considered to be the bordering relatives of humans with their DNA resembles very much to that of humans. Chimpanzee is another animal that features these characteristics. They are naturally adaptable to dwelling in tropical as well as subtropical foresusts. Gorillas are mostly found at the higher tropical ranges but they do not cover most of the Africa's range.

One of gorilla species that is mountain gorillas reside at a height of about 2,200 - 4,300 meters (7,200 - 14,100 feet) in Albertine Rift cloud forests in Vriunga Volcanoes. The lowland species are adept to live in thick forests together with marshes and swamps. The eastern gorillas inhabit in Congo while the western species live in Central West African countries.

Chimpanzees and humans are considered to be the nearest relatives of gorillas and are believed to have been evolved from a shared ancestor some 7 million years ago. There is a slight variation of human genes from the gorilla genes and that counts to 1.6%. There are around three subspecies of gorillas which are; western lowland gorilla, eastern lowland gorilla, and the mountain gorilla.

The gorilla species differs on the basis of size, culture, facial widths, density, length, and hair. There are almost 100,000 lowland gorilla species are believed to survive in the wild out of which 4,000 individuals are captive in zoos. Of all the gorilla species, mountain gorillas are listed as extremely endangered as there are only 620 species left in the wild with no one representing in zoos.

Gorilla Facts For Kids

These types of mammals are widely known for knuckle-walking and they seldom walk bipedally for short vastness which is particularly true when they are carrying any food or defending themselves.

The weight of an adult male gorilla measures around 135 - 180 kg (300 - 400 lb).

The adult female gorillas are 68 - 113 kg (150 - 250 lb).

The length of adult male gorilla measures around 1.7 - 1.8 meters (5.6 - 5.9 feet).

The arm span of these mammals is about 2.3 - 2.6 meters (7.5 - 8.5 feet).

As compared to the adult male gorillas, the females have shorter arm spans.

The silverback gorillas weigh around 230 kg (510 lb), with the length of 1.8 meters (5 ft 11 inches). The heavy gorillas can be as much as 270 kg (600 lb).

They have a prominent sagittal chest.

The western gorillas are less brightly-colored as compared to the eastern ones, and the mountain gorillas are the brightest of all species. The mountain gorilla can also be distinguished by its dense hair.

The hair-coloration of western lowland gorillas ranges from brown, grayish to the reddish brown.

The species that reside in the lowland tropical forests are slightly slimmer and quick than the mountain gorillas. The eastern gorilla species are more likely to have elongated face coupled with the extended chest in comparison to the western gorillas.

One of the strange gorilla facts for kids is that they do have fingerprints just like humans.

They have dark brown colored eyes.

One of the primary causes of gorilla's deaths is cardiovascular disease.

Leopards are the foremost predators of gorillas. The silverback gorillas are supposed to defend their groups from these potential predators even by risking their lives.

Gorillas are always found in groups and these groups are mainly comprised of adult male and silverback female gorillas.

The lifespan of silverback is typically more than 12 years.

The lifespan of blackbacks is 8 - 12 years.

The female gorillas are known to have aggressive attitude towards each other.

Gorillas normally build their nests for resting. These nests measure around 2 - 5 feet (0.61 - 1.5 meters). They tend to find opportunistic site for their nesting.

Dig Deeper: What Do Gorillas Eat?
Distribution & Habitat

These types of mammals have irregular distribution. The western gorillas inhabit in west central Africa, and the eastern species dwells in the east central Africa. These wild animals are known to reside in diverse habitats and ranges.

Gorillas for the most part live in the swamps, marshes, and montane forests. Eastern gorillas live in the submontane and montane forests between 650 - 4000 meters (2132 - 13,123 feet) above sea level.

Mountain gorillas are found at the higher range of habitats while the eastern lowland gorillas are known to reside at the inferior ends of the habitat range. Besides, the eastern lowland gorillas inhabit in the lowland and montane bamboo forests ranging from 600 - 3308 meters (1969 - 10,853 feet).
Dig Deeper: Where Do Gorillas Live?
Western gorilla is the only species that can be found in montane forests as well as swamp forests, with the elevations ranging from 1600 meters (5249 feet) above the sea level. Western gorillas are known to reside in the lowland forests along with the swamps that range from 1600 meters (5249 feet). The Cross River species inhabits in the submontane forests ranging from 150 - 1600 meters (492-5249 feet).

Feeding Ecology & Diet

These animals spend their daily time in three main activities that are feeding, traveling, and resting. There is a slight variation in the gorillas diet within species. The mountain gorillas predominantly feed on stems, leaves, shoots, pith, fruits, and foliage.

Apart from all these foods, mountain gorillas largely rely on fruits that make bulk of their diet. Bamboo is one of their favorites which they often take on when and as offered. For the reason that mountain gorillas have extremely varied diet, the groups don't often fall into conflict with each other.

These species cover 3 - 15 km ² (1.16 - 5.79 sq. miles) and they tend to cover 500 meters (0.311 miles) each day. Mountain gorillas tend to live in diverse habitats.

Some of the gorillas diet varies according to the seasonal availability of food. In general, leaves and pith are consumed, while fruits comprise almost 25% of their diet. They had to travel great distances in order to enjoy fruits as they are not easily accessible especially in lowland tropical forests.

These distances include 2.7 - 6.5 sq. km (1.04 - 2.51 sq. miles), with average distance covered each day ranges from 154 - 2280 meters (0.096 - 1.42 miles). Eastern lowland gorillas are also known to consume insects, with special preference to ants. Western gorillas primarily rely on fruits for their daily consumption.

Ants and termites also make most of their diet. Gorillas seldom drink water for the reason that the succulent vegetation, that they eat more often, is composed of water which is enough for them.

Reproductive Biology

Female gorillas reach the maturity age after 10 - 12 years although this can be earlier when they're kept in captivity.

The male gorillas become mature after 11 - 13 years.

The period of estrous cycle ranges from 30 - 33 days.

The period of gestation ranges from 8.5 months.

The young gorillas will stay with their mothers for the first five months while mothers will stay in close proximity to the silverbacks for protection.

The infants began to part from their mothers after they reach 18 - 21 years of age.

The average lifespan of gorillas is about 35 - 40 years, with those living in captivity are known to live for about 50 years. The oldest gorilla lived was Jenny at the Dallas Zoo and he died at the age of 55.

Gorilla Facts For Kids | Video

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Gorilla Facts For Kids | Fun Facts About Gorillas For Kids

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Here are some of the most exciting gorilla facts for kids including real insights about the gorillas diet, habitat, reproduction, and behavior. Gorillas are the largest primates that belong to the genus eponymous. These mammals are primarily herbivorous and are known to spend all their time on grounds all throughout central Africa and other tropical forests.

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Katherine Applegate is the Newbery Medal-winning and #1 New York Times bestselling author of numerous books for young readers, including THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN, the ENDLING series, CRENSHAW, WISHTREE, and, with her husband, the ANIMORPHS series.

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

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Ivan the gorilla lived alone in a shopping mall for over 20 years (The Urban Gorilla)

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Ivan the gorilla, who spent 27 years on display in a south Tacoma shopping center, died Monday at Zoo Atlanta, his home for the past 18 years.

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The first time he ventured into his outdoor compound at Zoo Atlanta, Ivan the gorilla was hesitant. It had been 27 years since he walked in the sunshine and felt grass under his feet. But after a few false starts, the silverback marched over to a crowd watching from behind a window and pounded the glass with his fist.

It was the same gesture that delighted and terrorized generations of children in the Pacific Northwest, who grew up visiting the ape at the Tacoma shopping center where he spent so much of his life.

"It was just the coolest thing to see him when I was a little girl," Kelley Carter said. After learning Ivan died Monday, the Tacoma woman spent much of Tuesday reminiscing with friends on Facebook. "It's amazing how many people he touched from my era."

But even as a child, Carter recognized there was something disturbing about the gorilla's solitary cage at what used to be called The World Famous B&I Circus Store. By the time he was moved to Atlanta in 1995, Ivan's shopping-center home was seen as an embarrassing throwback to the past.

Animal-welfare activists and primate experts mounted a three-year crusade to get the gorilla transferred to a zoo where he could live in a more natural habitat and enjoy the company of his own species.

Ivan was between 48 and 50 years old when he died in Atlanta, which puts him among the longest-lived captive gorillas. He had been in declining health for several months, suffering from arthritis and loss of appetite, said Dwight Lawson, Zoo Atlanta's deputy director.

Knowing it was a risk, worried zookeepers anesthetized him for a physical exam Monday. "He simply never woke up from the anesthesia," Lawson said. "He passed away quietly."

During his 18 years at the zoo, Ivan lived with a rotating harem of females. Though he never fathered any offspring, he thrived there.

"He was a very special animal," said Terry Maple, the former Zoo Atlanta director who helped orchestrate Ivan's transfer. "He lived a peaceful and happy life, and he lived a long life."
Snatched from wild
Starting with his capture in the jungles of western Africa in 1964, Ivan's story took more twists than a Hollywood thriller - including a cameo appearance by Michael Jackson.

B&I founder Earl Irwin wanted a gorilla to display as one of his many promotional schemes. He arranged to buy a young animal snatched from the wild.

The infant Ivan was lost in shipment, arriving in Tacoma frail and sick. The Johnston family, who operated the pet store at the B&I, nursed him back to health and raised him in their home like a child. Larry Johnston was 13 when he found himself with a hairy little brother.

Ivan sat at the table for meals, loved to watch the J.P. Patches show on television and had a taste for fried chicken. "He was part of our clan," Johnston said Tuesday.

When Johnston got a motorcycle, Ivan rode on the back. Johnston shared his bed with Ivan every night. Sometimes before they fell asleep, Ivan would reach out and touch his human brother's face.

Ron Irwin, son of Earl, visited often. "Ivan would swing from anything that wasn't nailed down - the curtains to the lamps to the shades," Irwin recalled.

Following the advice of gorilla experts, the Irwins and Johnstons caged Ivan at the B&I when he was about 3 years old and becoming too big to handle. In retrospect, Irwin regrets it. "They said: Throw away the key. This is King Kong. He'll kill you. But that wasn't right."

Ivan was distraught at being separated from the only family he knew. Larry Johnston and his father slept on cots outside the cage for two months to comfort the young gorilla. Ivan would spend the next 27 years in the concrete compound.

The B&I menagerie included a baby elephant, seals, bears and flamingos. But Ivan was the star attraction, visited regularly by children across the region.

The gorilla got what was considered the best possible care, Johnston said. It wasn't until decades later that zoos began to realize it was inhumane to keep social creatures like primates in isolation. In the late 1970s, Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo and others began building lush, outdoor environments that mimicked natural habitat.

A 1991 documentary called "The Urban Gorilla" sparked the "free Ivan" campaign, featuring him as a sad example of the way gorillas used to be housed.

Protesters descended on the South Tacoma shopping complex when Ron Irwin, by then the owner, resisted moving Ivan. The PR battle continued for three years, through a bruising bankruptcy fight between Irwin and his sister. In the meantime, lawyers for Michael Jackson inquired about moving Ivan to the star's Neverland ranch in California.

"He was going to build the best gorilla compound in the world," Irwin said. But even the King of Pop couldn't get a permit to house Ivan in his private zoo.

A bankruptcy trustee finally struck the deal to transfer Ivan to Atlanta.

"I still feel frustrated that it took so many machinations to do what was clearly right for Ivan," said Mitchell Fox, who led the campaign for the Progressive Animal Welfare Society.
Ambivalent
At Zoo Atlanta, Ivan was eased back into gorilla society. His first introduction to the opposite sex didn't go well, with the females chasing him around the cage. Ivan eventually seemed comfortable with most of his female companions, said Charles Horton, his former keeper at Zoo Atlanta. But Ivan never fully embraced the role of a dominant silverback.

"He was always a little ambivalent about other gorillas," Horton said. The one report of Ivan mating might have been a false alarm, Horton said. At any rate, he never repeated the maneuver.

For Fox, the campaign to move Ivan was about improving his life, not leaving progeny. "To me, it was a home run," he said.

Nearly two decades later, even those who opposed the move agree. "It was wonderful the way it worked out," Irwin said. "You couldn't hope for better."

There's a chance Ivan will be coming back to the Pacific Northwest posthumously. Technically, he was on loan from Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo. The agreement specified that his remains be returned, Lawson said.

Does that mean company for Bobo, the late Woodland Park gorilla whose skeleton and stuffed remains have been displayed in local museums?

"That would be weird," Irwin said.
Seattle Times staff researcher Gene Balk contributed to this story.

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Aged, beloved Ivan the gorilla from Tacoma dies at Atlanta zoo

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Ivan the gorilla, who spent 27 years on display in a south Tacoma shopping center, died Monday at Zoo Atlanta, his home for the past 18 years. Share story The first time he ventured into his outdoor compound at Zoo Atlanta, Ivan the gorilla was hesitant.

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Ivan was a western lowland gorilla born in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo. He was captured from the wild as a baby and brought to live with humans.

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Katherine Alice Applegate (born October 9, 1956) is an American young adult and children's fiction writer, best known as the author of the , , , and other book series. She won the 2013 Newbery Medal for her 2012 children's novel The One and Only Ivan .