History Of The Elephant 

Elephants are a species that has been on this planet for 56 million years. Elephants are originally from Africa. They stayed in Africa for 33 million years. About 20 million years ago, elephant ancestors started to spread to different countries. They extended to Europe and then to Asia. It wasn’t until 16 million years ago that elephants reached North America. Then only 3 million years ago, elephants reached South America. Thirteen thousand years ago, the North American elephant became extinct. Throughout history from when elephants first came to life to now, the environment for elephants has changed drastically. The increased pollution problems, poaching, human-wildlife conflict, and habitat destruction, have caused the elephant population to decrease significantly. The thought that elephants may be extinct very soon is on many scientists’ minds. 

Diets

Elephants are vegetarians. Their diets consist of a wide variety of plants, savannah grasses, shrubs, herbs, woody trees, bark, and fruits. Not every type of elephant eats exactly the same diet. An elephant’s habitat impacts their diet. Since elephants are extremely big animals, co, they have to eat a lot. Depending on the specific specie of elephant, they can range from 8,000 pounds to 13,000 pounds. Elephants spend sixteen to eighteen hours, which is nearly 80% of their day  on feeding. On a normal day, elephants can eat more than 300 pounds of food!

Mating/Life-Span 

Elephant mating is not too different from humans. When a male elephant is interested in a female elephant, they have to act on it fast due to the short mating season that elephants have. When elephants are interested in each other, they will rub

their bodies on each other and even wrap trunks. Males have to impress the female since they play hard to get by running away from the male elephants. Female elephants play this game for a while before actual mating even occurs. After mating, males are known to watch over and protect the female elephants after mating happens. Elephants aren’t known for having lifetime lovers, but they are known for having deep connections with their friends and families. Depending on the type of elephants, they can live from about 40 to 70 years. 

Interesting Facts 

Elephants are very interesting animals. They have many unique characteristics that make them very different from other species. First, they are the largest animals on this planet. Many people have only seen elephants in pictures, so they aren’t aware actually of how big an elephant is. Elephant brains are three times larger than a human’s brain. Elephants are also very strong, they can carry more than 9,000kg. This is the average weight of 130 humans combined. Elephants in fact do have teeth, but you wouldn’t expect what they do have. Elephant’s teeth are actually their tusks. They have incredibly thick skin and communicate through vibrations. Overall, elephants are an amazing species that Earth is lucky to have.