What are the characteristics of elephants' living habits?
Elephants are land-dwelling, social mammals that live in family units led by a female elephant; the time they are active each day, the routes they travel, the places they forage and the sites where they rest are all directed by the female elephant. Adult male elephants only take on the responsibility of guarding the family's safety. They feed on plants such as tender leaves, wild fruits, wild grasses, wild vegetables and tender bamboo, eating more than 225 kg per day. So how do elephants usually communicate? Let's find out together below.
1. The characteristics of elephants
1. Big ears
Elephants have two big ears. For an elephant, the greatest function of the ears is dissipating heat, even above hearing. An elephant's ears are not only large but also thin, and are filled with blood vessels; as blood flows through them, heat is easily released, and especially when the ears flap, the temperature of the blood in the ears can be brought down quickly.
2. Big tusks
Elephants have a pair of well-developed incisors on the upper jaw that grow throughout their lives. The incisors of African elephants can reach 3.3 m in length, while in Asian elephants the tusks of females are not exposed. Tusks are a tool for male elephants to show off; the longer the tusks, the more they can attract females, and they also have a deterrent effect on other males. The trunk is easily injured, so elephants generally fight with their tusks.
3. Long trunk
The most conspicuous thing on an elephant is its huge trunk, which is also one of its most important organs. It is like a water pipe, long enough to hang down to the ground, cylindrical in shape and able to stretch and bend freely. Normally it is curled up, the tip of the trunk is very sensitive and can open and close, and the tip has finger-like projections that can pick up small objects. Food and water are both rolled into the mouth with the trunk, and all of its strength lies in the trunk.
4. Big head
Elephants have very large heads and look very heavy and clumsy.
5. Gray all over
Elephants are gray all over and are covered with elephant skin.
2. How elephants communicate
Elephants can communicate using infrasound that humans cannot hear, transmitted through their bones. When the sound wave arrives, it travels along the sole of the foot through the bones to the inner ear, and the fat on an elephant's face can amplify the sound. Zoologists call this fat amplifying fat, and many marine animals also have this kind of fat.
Under undisturbed conditions, it can generally travel 11 km; if the medium is made uneven by air currents, it can only travel 4 km. If they still need to communicate under such conditions, the herd will stomp their feet together, producing a powerful “rumble”, and this method can travel as far as 32 km.
Elephants are emotional animals and also good friends of humans, so everyone should not harm them. Protecting elephants is our responsibility.