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                                             Elephants

                                                             i got these pictures off of these website:

                                    http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/african-elephant.html

                                    http://www.wildlife-pictures-online.com/image-files/elephant_lznp-r0102_med.jpg

Types 

There are only three types of species living today and they are African Bush Elephant, the African Forest Elephant, and the Asian Elephant (a.k.a the Indian Elephant). All the other species of elephants are extinct.

Size

Elephants are the largest and animals now living. The elephant's gestation period is 22 months, the longest of any land animal. At birth it is common for an elephant calf to weigh 120 kilograms (260 lb). They typically live for 50 to 70 years, but the oldest recorded elephant lived for 82 years. The largest elephant ever recorded was shot in Angola in 1956. This male weighed about 12,000 kilograms (26,000 lb), with a shoulder height of 4.2 metres (14 ft), a metre (yard) taller than the average male African elephant. The smallest elephants, about the size of a calf or a large pig, were a prehistoric species that lived on the island of Crete during the Pleistocene epoch.                                        

Diet

Elephants are herbivores, and they spend up to 16 hours a day eating plants.

Alsothey drink 30-50 gallons of water per day. Elephants are browsers, and the eat leaves, bark, fruits on trees and shurb, but they mostly eat grasses and herbs. Also elephants only digest approximately 40% of what they eat. 

Habitat

Elephants can live in nearly any habitat that has enough quantities of food and water. Their ideal habitat consists of plentiful grass and browse.

Link: https://secure.ga0.org/img/act2/custom_images/indefenseofanimals/Elephant_Sanctuary.jpg  Link: http://www.grguy.net/KEN-58-1Baby-elephant

tail-800.jpg 

Birth

Usually only one calf is born to a pregnant female. An orphaned calf will usually be adopted by one of the family's. Elephants are watchful mothers, and because most elephant behavior has to be learned, they keep their offspring with them for many years. Tusks erupt at 16 months but do not show clearly until 30 months. The calf gets breast-feeded with its mouth (the trunk is held over its head); when its tusks are 5 or 6 inches long, they begin to disturb the mother and she weans it. Once weaned usually at age 4 or 5, the calf still remains in the maternal group.

Communication

Elephants make numerous of sounds when communicating. Elephants are famous for their trumpet calls which are made when the animal blows through its nostrils. Trumpeting is usually made during excitement. Elephants also make rumbling growls when greeting each other. They can communicate over long distances. These calls range with possible 10 km.

Fun Facts 

-They poop 80 pounds in one day

-Elephant is the only mammal that can't jump

-The trunk of an elephant can hold up to 2 gallons

-In one day, an elephant can drink up to 80 gallons of water

-They have the largest brains in the animal kingdom

-Elephants normally walk about 4 mph

-Elephants sleep mostly standing. They ussually sleep 4-5 hours per night

-They use dust and mud for cooling

-They weight 10,000 pounds. It would take 250 students to add up to 10,000

-An elephant's tooth can weight as much as 3 kilograms

Bibliography

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephants

http://www.awf.org/content/wildlife/detail/elephant

http://media.photobucket.com/image/elephant%20animations/sbg30873/Animations/elephant-4.gif?o=1

http://www.funshun.com/amazing-facts/elephant-animal-facts.html

http://www.facts-about.org.uk/animals-elephants.htm

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/413746/interesting_facts_about_elephants.html

http://www.indianchild.com/elephants1.htm