Gentle giants of the bush – The African Bush Elephant Interesting facts

A male African Bush elephant grows to 3 meters tall and weighs between 4000 – 7500kgs while a female elephant is approximately 60cm shorter and half the weight.

Elephant herds are lead by females.

The pregnancy period for elephants are between 18 and 22 months and they are only fertile for a few days per year.

A newborn elephant (called a calve) weighs approximately 100kgs at birth and are completely blind when born.

Elephants drink up to 200 litres of water per day and do not drink water directly through their trunks.  They have 2 nostrils which they use to breathe but they also soak water into their nostrils and blow it into their mouths.

Adult elephants eat approximately 150kgs of food in a day –  roots, grass, fruit, shrubs and bark.

Tusks are elongated upper incisor teeth embedded deep in the elephant’s head.  Elephant tusks are used as a tool to dig for food or water and to strip bark from trees.

Their trucks are used to spray water on their bodies and they also use their trunks to spray mud and dust on their skin to remove parasites.

An elephant’s brain weighs approximately 5 kilograms.

Male elephants leave their family between the ages of 8 and 15.

Sexual actitivity for bull elephants are called “musth”

During the season of “musth”bulls have heightened levels of testosterone and are very aggressive and they seek to dominate their surroundings and mate with females.

Elephants live between the ages of 50 and 70 years although death do occur earlier due to injury and disease.

Elephants sleep an average of 4 hours a night.

They are emotional creatures and moan the death of relatives.

They do make sounds that we humans cannot hear but other elephants can from kilometers away and they also stamp their feet when communicating.

Elephants are good swimmers and use their trunk as a snorkel underwater.