Appearance of the elephant description. Elephants - description, species, habitat, nutrition, behavior, reproduction and facts

In ancient times, there were many different elephants, but gradually they became extinct. Now there are only two species living on our planet: African and Indian.

Where do elephants live?

Elephants are named after their habitat: some of them live in Africa, while others are home to India. Regardless of the species, all elephants are listed in the Red Book. This means that in wildlife There are very few of these beautiful large animals left, and they need human protection.

• African elephants , as the name suggests, live in Africa. Both females and males have large tusks - large front teeth that can grow up to two meters in length. Adults often reach 4 meters in height and weigh more than 700 kg. African elephants are very aggressive animals and are almost impossible to train.

Rice. 1. African elephant.

• Indian elephants differ from their African counterparts in their more modest size. They reach a height of no more than 3 meters, and their weight does not exceed 500 kg. They live in many Asian countries: India, Thailand, Laos, Ceylon. Indian elephants are very peaceful and friendly animals that are easy to train. It is this type of elephant that can be found in the circus and zoo. In their homeland, they are used as strong four-legged helpers: elephants drag trees in sawmills, carry heavy loads, and in ancient times they even took part in military battles.

Rice. 2. Indian elephant.

In India, elephants are especially revered and respected. Moreover, in this country the elephant is a deity. For example, the Hindu god of wisdom Ganesha looks like a man with the head of an elephant. Not a single local holiday or major celebration is complete without these mighty animals, lavishly decorated with flowers and bright capes.

Elephant habits

Elephants are herd animals that in the wild live in large herds of up to thirty animals. Lone elephants are very rare.

As a rule, the herd is led by an experienced old female. Once every few years, female elephants give birth to calves, who live with their mother for up to five years. Average age life seems to be about 70 years.

Rice. 3. Baby elephant.

Elephants are herbivores that eat berries, leaves, fruits, grass, and tree bark.

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Despite their peaceful disposition, when a threat arises they become very aggressive and dangerous. A frightened or angry elephant makes a loud, sharp sound and spreads its ears. He begins to trample everything in his path, and with his trunk he begins to uproot trees and throw various objects to the sides. At such moments, all the animals try to get out of the way of the angry elephant as quickly as possible.

Elephants are incredibly smart and capable animals with excellent memory. An elephant is capable of remembering for the rest of its life the person who harmed it many years ago, and upon meeting it will definitely take revenge on him.

African elephant

AFRICAN ELEPHANT - a mammal of the elephant family of the order Proboscis, lives only in regions of Africa, the largest of modern land animals.

"Thick-skinned elephant" is not entirely true for these animals. The skin of elephants, with the exception of the back and sides where it can reach 2-3 centimeters, is very sensitive and especially sensitive to the sun.

This is why mother elephants often cover their babies with their shadow.

And also for the same reason, elephants cover themselves with mud.

There are two subspecies of African elephants: savannah or bush elephant - common in Eastern, Southern and partly Equatorial Africa and forest elephant - common in the tropical rain forests of Western and Equatorial Africa.

The weight of old males reaches 7.5 tons, and the height at the shoulders is 4 meters (on average, males have a mass of 5 tons, females - 3 tons). Despite its massive build, the elephant is amazingly agile, easy to move, and fast without haste.

The elephant swims beautifully, with only the forehead and the tip of the trunk remaining above the surface of the water.

No one has yet decided to claim that elephants’ trunks evolved to breathe underwater.

The ancestors of elephants led an aquatic lifestyle. Analysis of the tooth enamel of fossil representatives of proboscideans showed that they fed on aquatic plants.

The elephant overcomes the steep climb without any visible effort and feels free among the rocks.

An amazing sight - a herd of elephants in the forest. Absolutely silently, the animals literally cut through dense thickets: no crackling, no rustling, no movement of branches and foliage.

With an even, apparently unhurried step, the elephant overcomes enormous distances in search of food or, escaping from danger, covering tens of kilometers per night. No wonder it is considered useless to pursue a disturbed herd of elephants.

The African elephant inhabits a vast area south of the Sahara. In ancient times it was found in North Africa, but has now completely disappeared from there.

Despite their wide distribution area, it is not easy to meet elephants: in large quantities they are now only found in national parks.

In many African countries where elephants were historically found, today there are no elephants at all.

The usual composition of an elephant herd is 9-12 old, young and very small animals. As a rule, there is a leader in the herd, most often an old elephant.

The elephant herd is a very close-knit community. The animals get to know each other well and work together to protect their young. There are cases when elephants provided assistance to their wounded brothers, leading them away from a dangerous place.

Fights between elephants are rare. Only animals suffering from some kind of pain, for example with a broken tusk, become uncooperative and irritable. Usually such elephants move away from the herd. It is true that it is not known whether they themselves prefer solitude or whether they are driven out by healthy companions.

An elephant with a broken tusk is also dangerous for people. No wonder the first commandment that visitors to national parks need to know is: “Do not leave your car! Don't cross the path of a herd of elephants! Do not approach lone elephants, especially those with a broken tusk!” And this is not without reason: the elephant is the only animal that can easily go on the attack and overturn a car. At one time, ivory hunters often died under the feet of wounded giants.

Apart from humans, the elephant has almost no enemies. The rhinoceros, the second giant of Africa, is in a hurry to give way to the elephant, and if it comes to a collision, it is always defeated.
Of the elephant's sense organs, smell and hearing are the most developed.

An alert elephant is an unforgettable sight: the huge sails of the ears are spread wide, the trunk is raised up and moves from side to side, trying to catch a breath of wind, there is both tension and threat in the whole figure.

An attacking elephant flattens its ears and hides its trunk behind its tusks, which the animal brings forward with a sharp movement.
The elephant's voice is a shrill, shrill sound, simultaneously reminiscent of a hoarse horn and the grinding of car brakes.

Reproduction in elephants is not associated with a specific season. Pregnancy lasts 22 months. Typically, females give birth to cubs once every 4 years.

A newborn elephant calf weighs about 100 kilograms and is about 1 meter tall; it has a short trunk and no tusks.

Until the age of five, he needs the constant supervision of a female elephant and cannot live independently.

Elephants mature at the age of 15 and live in the wild for 70 years.

The African elephant is one of the unluckiest animals. Its tusks, the so-called ivory, have long been valued at almost its weight in gold.

Until Europeans came to Africa with firearms, relatively few elephants were hunted - hunting was very difficult and dangerous. But the flow of lovers of easy money who flocked to Africa at the end of the last century changed the situation dramatically. Elephants were killed, their tusks were broken off, and huge corpses were left for hyenas and vultures. And tens, hundreds of thousands of these corpses rotted among the forests and savannas of Africa, and enterprising adventurers made great profits.
Both males and females of the African elephant are armed with tusks. The tusks of females are small, and the tusks of old males sometimes reached a length of 3-3.5 meters with a mass of about 100 kilograms each (the record pair of tusks had a length of 4.1 meters and a weight of 225 kilograms).

True, on average, each tusk yielded only about 6-7 kilograms of ivory, since hunters killed all the elephants in a row - males and females, young and old.

Huge quantities of ivory passed through the ports of Europe. By 1880, when the ivory trade reached its apogee, from 60,000 to 70,000 elephants were killed annually, but already in 1913 - 10,000 elephants, in 1920-1928 - 6,000.Elephants were becoming rare. First of all, they were killed in the savannahs. Elephants are best preserved in inaccessible swamps along the Upper Nile and Congo valleys, where the road to humans was closed by nature.About 50 years ago, uncontrolled hunting of elephants was officially stopped, a network of national parks was created, and the African elephant was preserved.

There is not much space left for him on earth - he can only feel calm in national parks. The reserve regime has had a beneficial effect on elephants. The number began to grow, and now there are about 250,000 elephants in Africa (perhaps even more than 100 years ago).

In parallel with the growth of the population, the concentration of animals in limited areas of the territory increased. For example, in the Kruger National Park in 1898 there were only 10 elephants, in 1931 - 135 elephants, in 1958 - 995 elephants, in 1964 -2374 elephants, currently several tens of thousands of elephants live there!

This overpopulation posed a new serious threat to elephants, and the “elephant problem” in national parks became the number one problem. The fact is that an adult elephant eats up to 100 kilograms of grass, fresh shoots of bushes or tree branches per day. It is estimated that vegetation from an area of ​​about 5 square kilometers is needed to feed one elephant for a year.
When feeding, elephants often cut down trees to get to the upper branches, and often tear off the bark from the trunks.

However, in the past, herds of elephants migrated over many hundreds of kilometers, and vegetation damaged by elephants had time to recover.

Now the mobility of elephants is sharply limited, and they are forced to feed - on an elephant scale - “on a patch.”

So, in Tsavo Park ( East Africa) each elephant covers only about 1 square kilometer. And in Queen Eliza Bet National Park there are an average of 7 elephants, 40 hippos, 10 buffalo and 8 waterbuck per square mile (2.59 square kilometers). With such a load, the animals begin to starve, and in some places it is necessary to resort to artificial feeding (elephants receive oranges as an additional ration).

Many National parks surrounded by a wire fence through which a weak current is passed, otherwise the elephants could destroy the surrounding plantations.

All this points to the need to reduce the number of elephants. Therefore in last years Planned shooting of elephants has also begun in national parks.

The number of elephants is being reduced by destroying artificial reservoirs that were once specially built in the dry areas of some national parks. It is expected that the elephants, deprived of a watering hole, will leave the park. And they know the boundaries of the protected area very well and at the slightest alarm they rush beyond the saving line. Having stepped over it, they stop and look with curiosity at the unlucky pursuer.

The elephant is a very valuable animal in economic terms. In addition to the tusks, meat, skin, bones and even a tuft of coarse hair at the end of the tail are utilized.The meat is used for food by the local population in fresh and dried form.Bone meal is made from bones.

The ears are used to make tables of sorts, and the legs are used to make waste baskets or stools.Such “exotic” goods are in constant demand among tourists.Africans use the stiff, wire-like tail hairs to weave beautiful bracelets, which, according to local beliefs, bring good luck to the owner.Elephants attract tourists from other countries. No elephants African savanna I would lose half the charm.

Indeed, there is something attractive about elephants. Are the animals walking leisurely across the plain, cutting through the thick tall grass like ships; do they feed on the edge of the forest, among the bushes; whether they drink by the river, lined up in a straight line; whether they are resting motionless in the shade of trees - in their entire appearance, in their manner, one can feel deep calm, dignity, hidden power.

And you involuntarily become imbued with respect and sympathy for these giants, witnesses of bygone eras.
At the very beginning of the 20th century, work began on domesticating the African elephant in the Belgian Congo. The work continued for several decades and met with some success.

The elephant is the largest land animal of the class mammals, such as chordates, of the order Proboscis, of the elephant family (lat. Elephantidae).

Elephant - description, characteristics and photos.

Elephants are giants among animals. The height of the elephant is 2 - 4 m. The weight of the elephant is from 3 to 7 tons. Elephants in Africa, especially savannah ones, often weigh up to 10 - 12 tons. The elephant's powerful body is covered with thick (up to 2.5 cm) brown or gray skin with deep wrinkles. Elephant calves are born with sparse bristles, while adults are practically devoid of vegetation.

The head of the animal is quite large with ears of remarkable size. Elephant ears have a fairly large surface area; they are thick at the base with thin edges; as a rule, they are a good regulator of heat exchange. Fanning the ears allows the animal to increase the cooling effect. An elephant's leg has 2 kneecaps. This structure makes an elephant the only mammal who can't jump. In the center of the foot there is a pad of fat that springs with every step, which allows these powerful animals to move almost silently.

The elephant's trunk is an amazing and unique organ formed by a fused nose and upper lip. Tendons and more than 100 thousand muscles make it strong and flexible. The trunk performs a series important functions, while simultaneously providing the animal with breathing, smell, touch and grasping food. Through their trunks, elephants protect themselves, water themselves, eat, communicate, and even raise their offspring. Another “attribute” of appearance is the elephant’s tusks. They grow throughout life: the more powerful the tusks, the older their owner.

An elephant's tail is about the same length as hind legs. The tip of the tail is framed by coarse hair, which helps repel insects. The elephant's voice is specific. The sounds that an adult animal makes are called grunts, moos, whispers and elephant roars. The lifespan of an elephant is approximately 70 years.

Elephants can swim very well and love water procedures, and their average speed movement on land reaches 3-6 km/h. When running short distances, the elephant's speed sometimes increases to 50 km/h.

Types of elephants.

In the family of living elephants, there are three main species, belonging to two genera:

Species often interbreed and produce quite viable offspring.

• Genus Indian(Asian) elephants (lat. Elephas) ​​includes one species - Indian elephant(lat. Elephas maximus). It is smaller than the Savannah, but has a more powerful build and short legs. Color - from brown to dark gray. Distinctive feature This type of elephant has small quadrangular-shaped ears and one appendage at the end of the trunk. Indian or asian elephant distributed in tropical and subtropical forests India, China, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Brunei, Bangladesh and Indonesia.

Indian elephant

Where and how do elephants live?

African elephants live almost throughout the entire territory of hot Africa: in Namibia and Senegal, in Kenya and Zimbabwe, in Guinea and the Republic of Congo, in Sudan and South Africa, elephants feel great in Zambia and Somalia. The bulk of the livestock, unfortunately, is forced to live in national reserves so as not to become the prey of barbarian poachers. The elephant lives on any landscape, but tries to avoid desert areas and too dense tropical forests, preferring the savannah zone.

Indian elephants live in the northeast and south of India, Thailand, China and the island of Sri Lanka, and live in Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam and Malaysia. Unlike their counterparts from the African continent, Indian elephants like to settle in wooded areas, preferring tropical bamboo thickets and dense bushes.

For approximately 16 hours a day, elephants are busy absorbing food, and they eat about 300 kg of vegetation with appetite. The elephant eats grass (including cattails, papyrus in Africa), rhizomes, bark and leaves of trees (for example, ficus in India), wild fruits, marula and even. The elephant's diet depends on its habitat, as they grow in Africa and India. different trees and herbs. These animals do not bypass agricultural plantations, causing significant damage to crops, sweet potatoes and other crops with their visits. Their tusks and trunk help them get food, and their molars help them chew. An elephant's teeth change as they are worn down.

At the zoo, elephants are fed hay and greens (in large quantities), and the animals are also given vegetables, fruits, root vegetables: cabbage, apples, beets, watermelons, boiled oats, bran, willow branches, bread, and also favorite treat elephants bananas and other crops. In a day in the wild, an elephant eats about 250-300 kg of food. In captivity, elephant food intake is as follows: about 10 kg of vegetables, 30 kg of hay and 10 kg of bread.

Adults are well-known water-suckers. An elephant drinks about 100-300 liters of water per day, so these animals are almost always located near water bodies.

Elephant breeding.

Elephants form family herds (9-12 individuals), including a mature leader, her sisters, daughters and immature males. The female elephant is a hierarchical link in the family; she matures by the age of 12, and at the age of 16 she is ready to bear offspring. Sexually mature males leave the herd at the age of 15-20 years (African males at 25 years old) and become loners. Every year, males fall into an aggressive state caused by an increase in testosterone, which lasts about 2 months, so quite serious clashes between clans, ending in injuries and mutilations, are not uncommon. True, this fact has its own plus: competition with experienced brothers stops young male elephants from early mating.

Elephants reproduce regardless of the season. A male elephant approaches the herd when he feels the female is ready to mate. Loyal to each other in normal times, the males organize mating fights, as a result of which the winner is allowed to the female. An elephant's pregnancy lasts 20-22 months. The birth of an elephant takes place in a society created by the females of the herd, surrounding and protecting the woman in labor from random danger. Usually one baby elephant weighing about a hundredweight is born, sometimes there are twins. After just 2 hours, the newborn elephant stands on its feet and happily sucks its mother’s milk. After a few days, the cub easily travels with its relatives, grabbing its mother’s tail with its trunk. Feeding with milk lasts up to 1.5-2 years, and all lactating females participate in the process. By 6-7 months, plant foods are added to the milk.

Elephants are the largest land-dwelling mammals. The largest animals live in Africa. Their weight can reach 12 tons, their height is more than three meters, and their body length is more than 7 meters.

One of the main features of an elephant is its long trunk, which is an fused upper lip with a nose. The trunk is a universal organ that allows the elephant to get food, collect water for drinking and bathing, lift and carry various items, and also helps to capture odors.

Another feature of elephants is big ears. Elephants' ears perform a thermoregulatory function. They are permeated with a dense network blood vessels, and when the blood passes through these vessels, it cools, and then returns to other organs and cools them. Elephants have very good hearing, they are even able to distinguish some melodies.

Spreading

Elephants live on African continent in savannas, as well as in the south-eastern part of Asia, preferring wet rainforests.

Nutrition

Elephants are herbivores. They feed on leaves, grass, various fruits and tree bark. In a day, an adult elephant eats up to 300 kg of grass and leaves and drinks about 300 liters of water.

In captivity, the diet of elephants is more varied. They readily eat fruits, vegetables and root vegetables, enjoy bread and cookies, and are very fond of candy. However, excess sweets are harmful for elephants - they gain excess weight and become inactive.

Lifestyle

Elephants live in groups because they are social animals. The group usually consists of an experienced adult female, who is the head of the group, several younger females and their cubs. Male elephants live in their own separate herds, and only sometimes do they join a group of females.

A female usually gives birth to one calf. Its weight can range from 60 to almost 100 kg. The baby elephant remains next to its mother for about five years, all this time it feeds on her milk and only at the age of five it switches to the usual food for elephants. Throughout her life, a female elephant gives birth to 5 to 12 calves. One elephant can be followed by two baby elephants of different ages at once.

Elephants usually move slowly, but if necessary they can reach speeds of up to 40 km/h. Elephants are good swimmers and can swim quite long distances. They love water very much and often give themselves a shower, dousing themselves with their trunk.

Elephants are very talkative - they can roar, trumpet and even squeal. These animals are capable of making sounds so powerful that they can be heard at a distance of about 10 km.

IN good conditions elephants can live up to 60 years.

Elephants cannot jump.

Brief information about the elephant.

I don’t even know for what reason, but mine love for elephants is limitless. I can easily stand near their cage for two or three hours. And what cute babies! Just imagine, they are like real babies, even drinking a bottle of milk.

Where do the most beautiful elephants live?

My very first and closest acquaintance with elephants happened in Thailand. It is in this country that elephants are treated with respect and considered a symbol of the Kingdom. If we compare them with African species, they are significantly inferior in size, and the trunk with tusks is different in appearance. The average age of sacred animals is small, 80 years. The most common cause of death is starvation. It is because of the lack of teeth that elephants have nothing to chew their food with. Places where you can watch the show and feed your pets:

1. Blooming Orchid Park- This is where you can watch a theatrical show. More than 20 elephants perform on the field at the same time. An exciting event. Elephants play ball, dance, draw and even ride a bicycle.
2. Crocodile farm- In addition to crocodiles, there are other animals on the farm. Here you can feed the elephants. Food, in the form of bananas, is sold next to elephants and giraffes.
3. River Kwai- except for feeding, shows and riding, with elephants can swim in the river. It's scary, but that's just from the outside. You get an unforgettable charge for only 800 baht.

Where can you see an image of an elephant in Thailand?

For local residents elephants are those animals that bring good luck, health, profit, success in many undertakings. If you pay attention to the counters of shops and markets, you will see elephants in the form of figurines everywhere. Where else can you see their image:

• coins;
• Buddhist temples;
• amusement parks;
• sculptures decorating the city;
• Kingdom flag.

Just imagine, elephants even have a pension. Money in the amount of 6,000 baht is just enough for food. Retirement age starts at age 60. For comparison, the Thais have no such thing as a pension.

Resting in Tai, don’t forget to buy a souvenir in the shape of an elephant. Then there will definitely be peace, love, health and happiness in your home.

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When I was very little, a zoo came to our city. The focus was on the giant elephant, at least it seemed so to me then. :) After this acquaintance, I learned that elephants love to eat carrots, know how to water themselves with water from a bucket, and live in warm countries- that was enough for me. And recently I realized that I know nothing at all about these huge good people.

Who is an elephant

Elephant- the largest herbivore on our planet. It is difficult to confuse him with someone else. Huge ears, funny eyes with a cunning look, a small funny tail, and, of course, a trunk, with the help of which elephants get food, defend themselves, and make sounds, which, by the way, are very loud. Elephants are smart and can be trained. They can't jump, but run fast and laugh. They have a positive attitude towards water procedures: they love to swim and douse themselves with water. Prefer plant foods(grass, leaves, tree bark), elephants have a sweet tooth - they love sweet fruits and vegetables.

Elephant habitat

There are elephants two types: African and Indian. They got their name from the territory in which they live. Long ago, African elephants inhabited all of Africa. But these days there are none left in the north of the continent. Because of their huge tusks, they became victims of hunters. And we can meet them only in:

• Namibia;
• Tanzania;
• Senegal;
• Cameroon;
• Republic of Chad;
• Guinea;
• Zambia;
• Angola.

Indian elephants live:

• on the island of Sri Lanka;
• in Nepal;
• on the island of Sumatra;
• on the island of Borneo;
• in Vietnam;
• in Laos.

Indian elephants prefer tropical and subtropical forests. But Africans, on the contrary, settle everywhere except the tropics and deserts. Externally, you can also find some differences. Firstly, size: Indian ones are significantly smaller than their African counterparts. Secondly, ears- in African they are larger and round, while in Indian they are elongated. Third, leather African elephants wrinkled, while in Indians it is covered with hairs.

After that first meeting with an elephant, my dream was to meet one in the wild. I hope someday it will come true. :)

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Until recently, I didn't think much about where do elephants live, and was very surprised when I met a whole herd of these animals in the Chinese province of Yunnan. As it turned out, in the recent past these giants even walked the streets of Beijing!

What conditions do elephants live in?

Elephants take over tropical forests, savannas, river valleys, climb into the foothills of the Himalayas to a height of up to 3500 meters. One could say “unpretentious” about elephants, but still their permanent habitat must correspond to their way of life. All elephants consume huge amounts plant food , drink much water, love to swim, relax under the canopy of trees, and cannot stay in the cold for long. Thus, these animals feel comfortable when following conditions:

• warm climate- temperature is above zero all year round;
• abundant food base throughout the year;
• availability of reservoirs with sufficient reserves fresh water ;
• Availability shady places;
• absence large quantity enemies.

In the 21st century such conditions exist in eastern, southern, central and western Africa, including in Namibia, Senegal, Kenya, Mali, Tanzania, South Africa and a number of other countries. Suitable habitat for Asian elephants is available in northeast and south India, in Sumatra and Sri Lanka, in Thailand, Nepal, in China...

Other elephant habitats

If by the place of residence of elephants, we mean not only them natural habitat a habitat, it turns out that these animals inhabit almost all countries of the world where there are large zoos. Some elephant colonies occupy vast territories, the area of ​​which amounts to hundreds of hectares.

One of the largest and most modern elephant sanctuaries is located in Zurich. Despite the acceptable conditions, elephants in captivity live relatively short lives and reproduce poorly. In this regard, conservationists even established a Day to Protect Elephants Living in Zoos. It is celebrated annually on June 20.

So it turns out that there are no representatives of the elephant family except in Antarctica. And how can you look at it, since even on icy continent elephants live and feel well. True, these are not ordinary elephants, but sea elephants, from the family of true seals. The males of these animals have a real trunk, although not as huge as their land namesakes.

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As a child, my favorite toy was a soft gray elephant. I remember how, as a little girl, I asked my parents to take me to the zoo to see an elephant in real life. Of course, it was impressive at the time, but there was an elephant looking at me through the bars of the cage. The most interesting thing was to find out where elephants live in the wild.

Elephant habitat

For the first time I managed to get acquainted with these huge eared beauties in their habitat during holidays in India. Relaxing on Goa, we decided to take an excursion to elephant nursery in Kandy, where you could see elephants with your own eyes, watch them bathe, feed, watch baby elephants play and take photographs as a souvenir. Certainly, it took a long time to get there, but it was worth it - many large and small elephants walked around the reserve, swam in the river, cooling off after a hot day, and played with their calves.

Right here elephants were cleaned with large hard brushes(yes, yes, there is such a profession - elephant cleaner), which they incredibly liked!

The second time a closer acquaintance with elephants occurred in Thailand. Here I was able to ride an elephant, play with a little elephant (he doused me with a fountain of icy water from the river!) and even get massage from baby elephant!

What types of elephants are there: types and differences

In general, elephants live in many countries, such as:

• Thailand;
• India;
• Vietnam;
• Sri Lanka;
• SOUTH AFRICA;
• Kenya;
• Senegal;
• Congo;
• Sudan.

And this is not the entire list of their habitats. Typically, these animals are divided into two types: African And Indian, so to speak, at the place of residence.

African elephants are huge, their color is dark, they also wear tusks and have a pair of processes at the end of the trunk.

Indian elephants are smaller, have shorter legs, but are hardy and powerful body. They have small ears and a single small appendage at the end of their trunk. Tusks theirs or very short(three times less than their African counterparts) or are absent at all.

What do elephants eat?

You won't believe it, but until 20 o'clock It takes an elephant a day to... search for food! They hide in the shade only during the hottest hours to avoid overheating. They eat on average per day from 150 to 300 kg of food, the bulk of which is grass and plant leaves. But if you come to elephant nursery, you shouldn’t take an armful of hay with you, you can treat the elephant with others treats:

• banana(they burst it together with the peel);
• sugar cane(sometimes for his sake wild elephants they even destroy agricultural crops);
• pineapple(we fed sliced ​​pineapple);
• apples(just like bananas, the elephant eats it with the peel and seeds);
• corn(will be eaten along with the leaves).