Unusual animals: African elephant

The elephant is an amazing creation of nature, about which many books have been written. But the fate of this animal is so sad that the public of all countries does not cease to sound the alarm.

There are two main varieties of elephants: the African elephant and the Indian. The first species lives only on the red-hot African plains, and the second one can be found exclusively in Asian tropical forests.

Indian elephants look like their African counterparts. But if these two species are placed side by side, the differences will be very noticeable. In particular, the African elephant is higher than the Indian elephant, its height reaches four meters, and its back has a sloping shape unlike the bent back of an Indian elephant. But the easiest way to distinguish these two species in shape of the ears: they are large in African animals and resemble the outlines of the silhouette of Africa, and the Indian ears are smaller, and their form does not cause any associations.

The African elephant is rightly considered to be a real king of beasts in his native savannah. Its weight is on average five and a half tons, while in the largest males it can reach seven and a half tons.

Bearing bones that hold such a huge mass, elephants are extremely powerful and strong. Bones of the legs in fact serve as pillars, and the spine serves as a bridge to maintain such an impressive body. The anatomical structure of elephants is so unusual that they are isolated in a separate order of animals - proboscis.

The trunk is a unique, very mobile and flexible organ in its own way, which is a fused nose and upper lip. The trunk of elephants can grab food, pinch grass, break branches, pull out roots, and then send the extracted food to his mouth.

At the end of the trunk are nostrils, through which the animal can collect up to 14 liters of water, then pour it into the mouth and quench your thirst. Blowing water up, they form a whole fountain of spray to cool and wash the body.

The trunk also serves as a means of communication. Elephants not only produce loud trumpet sounds, but also, shaking the trunk, create infrasonic waves, by which information is transmitted for a distance of up to 10 km. And if the elephant is irritated, it beats the trunk on the ground, producing a frightening drumbeat.

For all its formidable appearance, these animals are exclusively vegetarian. They 16 hours a day actively chew grass, leaves, fruits, roots, branches, tree bark. It is not easy to feed them, because an adult African elephant eats up to 400 kg of various vegetation on average. At the same time, he absorbs a little more than 40% of the food eaten. These giants drink too much - up to 220 liters of water a day.

To sleep, elephants spend only five hours of night time. Most often they just doze quietly standing up. But in the middle of the day, when the heat becomes unbearable, the animals necessarily rest.

The skin of elephants is very thick, 3-4 cm, but even she can not fully protect them from the ruthless rays of the sun. Therefore, they moisturize it and cool, taking mud baths. Elephants flop in the mud so that they cover the entire body with a layer. Simultaneously, this procedure helps to get rid of pesky biting insects.

All elephants live in separate family groups, headed by elderly elephants - matriarchs. The family includes daughters, sisters of the matriarch and all the young, including immature males. And adult males, starting from the age of 15, prefer solitude, living separately from the "female group".

How many elephants live? On average, they survive to 60-70 years, if they do not die earlier from attacks by predators and by the hands of poachers. Lions often hunt elephants, so first time elephants closely follow each step of the cubs, and they keep babies even under the belly even during the movement.

But not predators are the main enemy of elephants. Between 1981 and 1989, the number of African elephants decreased twofold - from 1.2 million to 623 thousand. The reason for this is the violation of the natural habitats of elephants: deforestation, plowing of land. Defending their crops, farmers often kill the animals that originally live on these lands.

But even more elephants die because of hunters-poachers. The African elephant attracts people greedy to profit with their expensive tusks, meat and skin. And if earlier the main target were the mothers, now the poachers switched to young and females. To get a ton of ivory, you need to exterminate about 113 elephants. Because of this, fifty more elephants die, too early to lose their mothers to survive on their own. Such extermination has turned into a real disaster for peaceful giants.

Since 1989, the sale of ivory is completely banned, since the elephants were under real threat of complete extinction. It is expected that not only the law, but also public opinion will lead to a drop in demand for goods that are produced from killed rare animals, which will help save elephants from further destruction.