You're watching FreeSchool! Let's learn about elephants. Elephants are the largest living land animals. Although giraffes are taller than elephants,
elephants are much, much heavier. The largest elephant ever recorded was an
African elephant that weighed 27,000 lbs or 13.5 tons and measured more than 13 and a
half feet or 4.1 meters tall. Elephants are mammals. They may not look very furry, but like all
mammals, elephants grow at least a little hair, they are warm-blooded, and they feed
their babies milk. Elephants are herbivores, eating leaves, fruit,
twigs, bark, grass, and roots. They can consume up to 500 lbs or 225 kg of
vegetation per day.
Because of this, elephants spend almost all
day eating. Aside from their massive size, elephants are
easy to identify because of their large, flat ears and their long, flexible trunks. The trunk, which is actually a long nose which
can reach lengths of up to 7 feet or two meters - is a specialized organ, unique to elephants. Trunks are strong - elephants can easily lift
loads of about 550 lbs or 250 kg with them - but they are also very flexible and can
perform delicate actions. An elephant can even pick up a coin from a
flat surface using its trunk. Elephants can also suck water up into their
trunk, but they do not drink it there. Once they have filled their trunks with water,
elephants will spray it into their mouths to drink, or spray it onto their bodies to
cool themselves. A thirsty elephant may drink up to 50 gallons
or 200 liters of water in one day, which is enough to fill a bathtub.
There are two main types of elephants, Asian
elephants and African elephants. The Asian elephant is native to southeast
Asia, and is the smaller of the two species. They can be recognized by their smaller ears
and by the fact that the females and even some males do not have tusks. Asian elephants live in grasslands, forests,
and scrublands. The African elephant is the larger of the
two species, and can be recognized by its oversized ears and prominent tusks on both
males and females. They can be found distributed through most
of Africa, in forests, woodlands, scrub, or desert. Elephants are endangered, and there are a
few different reasons why. First, elephants are often hunted for their
ivory tusks which can be sold around the world, as well as for their meat and skins.

Although there are now laws in place to stop
elephants being killed for their tusks, many elephants every year are still killed by illegal
hunters, or poachers. Elephants can also be killed if they come
too close to human settlements, damaging fences, crops, or buildings. Finally, elephants are at risk because their
habitats are being destroyed. Because they are so large, elephants need
vast expanses of land to live and find food in. As humans expand their cities and farmland,
elephants have fewer and fewer places to live.
People are working hard to save elephants. Laws that banned the sale of ivory helped
to save many elephants, and people are trying hard to learn how to live peacefully with
these giant mammals. I hope you enjoyed learning about elephants
today. Goodbye till next time!.
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