African Elephants By: Aida Valencia

Basic Information African elephants are the largest land animals on Earth. They are slightly larger than their Asian cousins and can be identified by their larger ears that look somewhat like continent of Africa. Elephant ears radiate heat to help keep these large animals cool, but sometimes the African heat is too much. Elephants are fond of water and enjoy showering by sucking water into their trunks and spraying it all over themselves. Afterwards, they often spray their skin with a protective coating of dust. Their trunks are actually large noses that are use for smelling, breathing, trumpeting, drinking and also grabbing, African elephants have two fingerlike features at the end of their trunks. The trunk alone contains about 100,000 different muscles.

Unique Adaptations The African elephant's most obvious adaptation is its trunk, which is basically an elongated nose. It has many uses, such as sucking up water and spraying it back in its mouth. Its main use, however, is to allow the elephant to reach up in trees to reach the foliage, which it eats. The trunk is tipped with two "fingers," which let the elephant examine, or even pick up, some small objects. The elephant's fan-shaped ears have many small blood vessels through them, which dissipate heat from the blood. The ears can also be used as fans, to keep hot air away from the elephant. The tusks of the African elephant are actually the elephant's incisor teeth. The largest single tusk ever found weighed 236 pounds and was 11 feet and 6 inches long! Legs of the African elephant are columnlike, the same width from top to bottom. Its feet are round and have a pad, almost like the one on a cat's paw, to support the leg. African elephants have five toes on the front feet and three on the back.

Elephants Relatives This is seem to be the closet relative that is related to an elephant. It seems to be a rock hyrax or dassie Also a Manatees and a dugongs are the closet relatives to the elephant.

An elephants Habitat An elephant require a lot of space. The need space to find enough food to eat, lots of grasses, trees and shrubs. They also need a good supply of water to drink and to bathe in. They often have to travel many miles to find food and water they need to survive. Because elephants are so big they do not have real enemies except for us. Humans have killed elephants for their ivory tusks.