In love with pachyderms?
Then you’ll love these fun facts about elephants!
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Interesting Facts ALL About Elephants for Kids
Elephants are one of the most beautiful creatures on earth.
They are pretty much gentle giants.
Smart and compassionate, it’s no wonder that elephants are loved so much.
Did you know that elephants greet each other by “hugging” with their trunks?
Incredible!
Want to learn more?
We’ve put together some awesome elephant facts for you to enjoy below.
Wild and Fun Facts About Elephants
Elephants are LARGE.
The African Bush elephant weighs in at approximately 14,000 pounds.
That’s about 7 tons, making them the largest land animal in the world.
Elephants eat a lot.
Elephants love to eat!
From grass and plants to fruits and nuts, elephants chow down roughly 12-18 hours every day.
Elephants love to swim.
In fact, elephants are excellent swimmers!
Using all four legs in deep waters to get around, elephants can paddle pretty far.
They can even submerge themselves underwater by using their trunks as a built-in snorkel.
Also, you wouldn’t think so, but their big bodies actually help them stay afloat.
Crazy!
An elephants’ tusks never stop growing.
Most elephants have tusks that begin to appear when the elephant is about 2 years old.
If an elephant doesn’t grow tusks, it’s typically a female.
Tusks are actually considered to be teeth and elephants use them to help with eating by scraping bark off of trees or digging up roots.
Because an elephants’ tusks never stop growing, you can tell whether they are old or not simply by the size of their tusks.
You can tell elephants apart by their ears.
There are 2 species of elephants: the African elephant and the Asian elephant.
African elephants have ears shaped like Africa, while Asian elephants have ears that look like India.
How cool is that?
Elephants have super long eyelashes.
Having the longest eyelashes than any other animal in the world, an elephants lashes reach up to 5 inches long!
Wow!
Elephants use their trunks for everything.
The trunk of an elephant weighs roughly 400 pounds.
With a muscle that big, you wouldn’t think that it could pick up something as small as a grain of rice, but it can!
In addition to picking things up, an elephant’s trunk is used for eating, drinking, smelling, breathing, and communicating.
Elephants are afraid of bees.
Imagine the largest animal in the world being scared of a teeny tiny little insect.
Yes, it’s true.
Elephants are so scared of bees that they will wave their ears, stir up dust, and really cause a commotion when they sense a beehive nearby.
Elephants can recognize themselves.
Not many animals have self-awareness, but when an elephant sees itself in the mirror, it recognizes itself.
This is an uncommon trait that is found in animals that also exhibit empathy, have complex brain activity and live social lives such as dolphins and apes.
Elephant Fun Facts
Elephants sure are fascinating!
With their extra-long noses, large floppy ears, and their especially loveable personalities, elephants are one unique animal.
