14 Fascinating Facts That Are Anything but Irrelephant
Happy World Elephant Day! In honor of today's special day, we wanted to bring you just a smattering of fun facts about these gorgeous and fascinating animals. Scroll through to read all 14 of them (and see some beautiful photos), and then check out all the rest of our elephant content.
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- Elephants are the largest land-living mammal in the world.
- Blood is circulated through their ears to cool them down in hot climates.
- Elephants can live to be 70 years old or more.
- Elephants use their trunks to breathe like a snorkel in deep water while swimming.
- Elephants are herbivores.
- Elephants have padding on their feet for protection that allows them to walk nearly silently.
- Elephants are the only mammals that can't jump.
- Elephants express grief, compassion, self-awareness, altruism, and joy.
- Elephants have an amazing sense of smell but poor eyesight.
- There are an estimated 450,000-700,000 African elephants and between 35,000 and 40,000 wild Asian elephants.
- Female elephants are pregnant for 22 months.
- Elephants travel in matriarchal packs led by the largest and/or oldest female.
- An elephant uses its trunk to lift food and suck up water to pour into its mouth.
- Elephants can communicate over long distances by producing a subsonic rumble that can travel over the ground faster than sound through air.