Elephants are fascinating animals! From physiology to psychology, these giants are full of surprises. Here are some more facts about Asian elephants.
- Elephants can hear infrasonic sound — sound below the human audible range — and ultrasonic sound — sound above the human audible range. Studies have shown that they can hear thunder several miles away.
- Elephants have great hearing and a great sense of smell but see relatively poorly. They can recognize people by smell, even after years apart.
- Fanning their ears helps elephants cool their bodies. The blood cycles through the ear to help regulate body temperature — on average, blood going into the ear is hotter than the blood coming out by a degree. For an elephant, normal body temperature is 96.6 degrees Fahrenheit.
- An elephant has only two pairs of teeth at a time. They are replaced five times throughout a lifetime. An elephant may be left or right tusked, just like a person is left or right handed.
- There are six major muscle groups in an elephant’s trunk. Within those groups, there are nearly 100,000 individual muscles.
- An elephant’s body has 282 bones.
- Elephants have nails, not hooves. Most Asian elephants have eighteen nails: five on each front foot and four on each back foot.
- Elephants can’t jump… at least not vertically. They can apparently hop horizontally.
- Elephants are prone to arthritis.
- Elephants have a high cholesterol level. They also don’t have a gall bladder.
- Elephants lack a nasolacrimal duct that runs between the eye and the nose. That means they constantly have tears running from their eyes!
- When they lay down, elephants fold their back legs forwards. Most animals fold their hind legs backwards when they lay down.
- Elephants live in matriarchal groups — the leader of the herd is usually a female. Babies in the wild are raised by the entire herd, not just the parents.