The Elephant

It is part of the big five animals in the Kenyan wildlife scene with quite a number of interesting facts to its name.
Elephants are large land mammals the largest living land animals currently. Recent DNA testing has split the African elephant species in two - African Bush (who is much smaller in size after attaining adult age) and the African Forest. African elephant species are generally larger than the Asian elephants, with scientists lacking a good explanation for it. Their gestation period is twenty two months or roughly 670 days (wow!), with new born calves weighing about 120 kilograms. Their society is matriarchal in nature with matriarchs being the bigger of the females in the pack.
Tusks grow for most of an elephant's lifetime and are an indicator of age, with the Asian female elephant lacking tusks. Because they tend to live in hot savanna climate, their bodies have adapted to this environment. One cooling mechanism of their bodies is to the ears on hot days, and in return, the blood circulates in the ear's numerous veins. The blood then returns to the head and body about 9 F cooler.
About 16 hours of an elephant's day is spent eating, drinking, bathing, dusting, wallowing, playing and resting. As an elephant only digests some 40 percent of what it eats, but this does not necessarily mean that its intake of food is little, actually, it needs tremendous amounts of vegetation; approximately 5 percent of its body weight per day and about 30 to 50 gallons of water to survive properly.
They are very alike to man in behavior. For example they recognize death and when one of their own dies the lie silently by the carcass as if giving their last respect to a fallen hero. Also In the same way that humans are left or right-handed, elephants are left or right-tusked. The dominant tusk is known as the major tusk, and is usually shorter than the other tusk due to wear and tear. Interestingly, they begin mating around the age of 20 living to a life expectancy of around 70 years. Comparable to man, the elephant is distinguished by its high level of intelligence, interesting behavior, methods of communication and complex social structure. In the social arena, Elephants are very social, frequently touching and caressing one another and entwining their trunks. Elephants also demonstrate concern for members of their families they take care of weak or injured members by protesting them from predators who may want to attack them. The Young calves are put in the middle of the herd with each member responsible for its general well being.
The sad part is that elephant numbers significantly dwindle each year despite the fact that their only living predator is man. Maybe we should try to protect this amazing creature whom we could be free to call “distant cousin”, “brother” or even “comrade”. Maybe we could take drastic measures by ensuring we are not part of the problem and refuse to buy anything made form ivory.

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