Elephant Quiz

Nature's great masterpiece, an elephant... ~John Donne

Momma's Boy
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Imagine having an appendage that can rip a massive tree from the ground, yet also pick up an object as small as a pea or a single blade of grass. As if that is not enough, that same extraordinarily strong and dextrous appendage can also sense nearly imperceptible vibrations from as far as 10 kilometers away.

That is impressive enough for me, but there's more. An elephant can siphon up to 15 quarts of water at a time using its trunk for drinking and spraying water to cool its body. It is the work of an estimated 40,000 to 100,000 specialized muscles.

Most impressive of all is the way the trunk is used to express affection and to communicate grief. Anyone who has watched the tender caresses of one elephant to another must surely sense the capacity this animal has for deep relationship.

Baby Elephant
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Love will draw an elephant through a key-hole. ~Samuel Richardson

I meant what I said, and I said what I meant.
An elephant's faithful, one hundred percent. ~Dr. Seuss

It is with great sadness that I learned just this week that Bella has passed away. Read more about what happened and how her elephant friend, Tarra, reacted to her death.

Tarra Says Goodbye To Her Beloved Bella

Female elephants forge lifelong friendships and have very close-knit family relationships. While male elephants lead more solitary lives, females are members of a very tightly structured matriarchal society that includes mothers, daughters, sisters, and aunts. The oldest elephant — the matriarch — leads the group.

When an elephant is born, that baby is nurtured by several females. The baby's mother chooses allomothers (female elephants unable to have calves) to help watch, protect, and teach her baby.

Source: Wikipedia - Elephant Calves and Social Structure

How would you like to be pregnant for nearly two years? Elephants have the longest gestation period of any land animal (22 months). In addition to the long pregnancy, imagine giving birth to a baby weighing approximately 230 pounds. Can you say epidural? Female elephants have more than earned my respect.

Protective Care
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Baby elephants are welcomed into the world to the sounds of trumpeting, rumbling and the cries of the adult female family members.

They are completely helpless at birth and totally dependent on their mother for up to five years of life. Some elephant calves will nurse for as long as eight to ten years if their mothers have not had another baby.

Baby elephants must be taught to use their trunk, which takes several months. They begin to teethe at two months of age and will go through six sets of teeth in their lifetime. Tusks will begin to form at six months of age (only for male Asian elephants or both sexes of African elephants). These incisors (tusks) will grow about seven inches per year.

Elephants have three distinct life stages: Baby (birth through weaning); Adolescence (from weaning until adulthood); and Adulthood (which begins at around 18 years of age). Though they may become sexually mature during the years from 10 to 17, many elephants begin breeding and have their first pregnancy around the age of 20 years. A mother elephant (cow) typically has one baby (calf) every two to four years.

An elephant remembers faces.

Elephant Eye
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The elephant that escapes the cull is called The Storyteller. She tells other elephants of the good and evil that men have done to her and her kind, and holds these truths in her heart forever. And in the end, her story is taken into account. She is ancient and wise and sublime, and her words weigh heavily in the final ledger.

Scientists may be rethinking elephant intelligence after a young Asian elephant demonstrated the spontaneous ability to solve a problem. What was the problem and how did he solve it? Check out this aha moment on National Geographic.

Eureka! Elephant Problem-Solving Moment

The Indian Elephant is said sometimes to weep. ~Charles Darwin

Elephants are considered one of the most intelligent creatures on the planet. They display behavior that is associated with altruism, art, compassion, cooperation, grief, language, learning, memory, mimicry, play, self-awareness, a sense of humor, and the use of tools.

Elephants separated from their family groups or family members have been known to suffer depression and to become extremely distraught (even to the point of death).

There have been documented situations where elephants have protected humans who were injured or lost in the wild. Elephants also display helping behavior when other elephants are young, hurt, upset, in danger, or dying.

Source: Wikipedia - Elephant Cognition

One elephant living near heavy traffic began to imitate
the sound of trucks moving along the highway.

Elephants are famous for their extraordinary memories. The most important memory of all may be that of social memory. Mature matriarchs of 55 years old and beyond appear to have the most extensive and critical memory when it comes to recognizing and remembering who or what can be trusted. The whole group is at danger when ivory poachers select the oldest matriarchs for slaughter (which is typical).

What do elephants remember? Friends, abusers, where to find alternate sources of food and water during droughts, the distinct smell of each family member's urine (a safety factor), escape tactics (such as how to unlatch a gate or disable the current on an electric fence), and much more.

Source: Scientific American

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Elephants are afraid of bees.

Why is it important to know that elephants are afraid of bees? Scientists believe this fear may be helpful in reducing the types of human and elephant contacts that often result in deadly shootings.

Elephants can quite simply be deterred from approaching villages or other areas where their presence could be dangerous. Research has demonstrated that elephants will immediately leave an area when the sound of bees is detected. Broadcasting bee sounds could very well save lives.

Source: Scientific American

When peacefully browsing, elephants make noises often described as 'tummy-rumbling,' which maintain contact with other members of the group. This unusual sound is now known be be produced in the elephant's larynx and may be likened to purring! If elephants are alarmed, the rumbling ceases immediately. ~Dan Freeman

Elephants have many ways of communicating. They use their trunks as mentioned above for much of their communication. Elephants express up to 70 different vocalizations and 160 visual and touch signals. Elephants can also detect the subsonic vibrations (which humans cannot hear) of other elephants, through their feet and their trunks, across a range of approximately 110 square miles.

Source: Animal Planet

I am donating 100% of the revenue generated by any sales on this web page
to support the mission of elephant sanctuaries.

Elephant Using its Trunk as a Snorkel
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Elephants are an endangered species
primarily due to habitat loss and poaching.

Elephant Sunset
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I encourage you to consider being an elephant angel. Elephant sanctuaries are critical to the health and well-being of creatures that have often survived much abuse and neglect.

Your support helps provide food, medical care, and the day-to-day essentials that help these magnificent beings live out their lives in peace. Thank you in advance for your compassion and generosity.

Donation Opportunities at the Elephant Sanctuary

I deeply appreciate the blessings of my colleagues for this tribute to one of the world's most magnificent creatures. Your support makes all the difference in the world to me. Thank you!

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