What a very large animal and yet so capable of grace.
Elephants have been known to be very gentle despite their great size
and power, they have been known to learn some pretty fascinating
tricks; as they are very intelligent animals. I have seen many shows on the cruelty these great animals have suffered through certain trainings within certain facilities. With this knowledge though I also keep the awareness that there are some facilities that treat all of their animals quite well. The elephant tusks were considered of great value to the scalpers; people would pay great money for the ivory. Due to this many wild elephants were slaughtered
with their bodies left to rot; a total disgrace and an inhumane act. This has definitely effected their numbers, because of their very slow reproduction rate- it was difficult for them.
The elephant is the largest animal that lives on land; growing up to
12 feet tall and weighing in at as much as 12 tons. Even though an
elephant's ears are extremely large ironically enough he can not hear
very well. An elephant uses his trunk for many purposes- to bath, to
reach for food in the trees, to drink water, and to smell for enemies
because he can't see very well. His trunk is very powerful and able
to even pull very large trees up from the ground.
Elephants are very social animals living in rather large herds with
a female usually being the leader of the herd. If one of them are
injured the rest of them will help it to reach safety. When a female
gives birth the entire herd will wait until the baby is strong enough
to travel with the group.
