Discover Fascinating Facts About Elephants: The World’s Largest Land Mammals

From its long, flexible trunk to its loud trumpeting sounds, there’s a lot to admire about an elephant. But how much do you know about these massive creatures? Where do they live? How big can they get? Are elephants mammals?

Discover the answers to all of those questions along with a few more tidbits that will make you admire these animals even more.

Are Elephants Mammals?

Yes, elephants are indeed mammals. In fact, elephants have the honor of being the biggest land mammal in the world.

There are two types of elephants: African and Asian. They both have long trunks, large ears, and sturdy bodies with light gray or dark gray skin. While there are definitely some differences between the two, they are both mammals.

Here’s what makes an elephant a mammal, including some facts you may not know about them.

Elephants Give Live Birth to Their Young

After a 22-month gestation period, this mammal gives live birth to a single baby also known as a calf.

Other female elephants in the herd crowd around the female as a way to protect her while she gives birth. A female elephant remains standing during birth, so the calf drops to the ground when it’s born. The calf is still inside the amniotic sac, which gives it some cushion as it lands on the ground. The sac usually breaks open as the mother elephant starts to clean her newborn.

Elephant calves are just three feet in height and weigh around 250 pounds. The elephant calf is able to stand up only minutes after its birth. Standing up right away makes the calf a little less vulnerable to predators. In the first couple hours of life, the calf learns to walk and move around with its mother. This is essential to survival in its environment.

Elephants Nurse Their Young

Newborn and young mammals nurse from their mother. The calf will be encouraged to nurse by its mother and will get to tuck away copious amounts of milk – about 10 liters daily. The nourishment provided by the female elephant is rich in both fat and protein. Elephant milk contains 100 times more protein compared to the more familiar cow’s milk.

An elephant calf nurses its mother on and off throughout the day. In total, they nurse for around an hour each day. At approximately 6 months old, an elephant calf begins to sample vegetation and other food sources in the area alongside its mother. It may continue to nurse while completing the weaning process.

Elephants Are Warm-Blooded

Elephants, like other mammals, are warm-blooded. Being warm-blooded means this animal maintains a constant body temperature regardless of the temperature of the environment. Compare this to a reptile: they are cold-blooded, meaning their body temperature changes with the environment they live in. They aren’t able to maintain a warm body temperature like mammals.

Both Asian and African elephants live in habitats that can get very hot. So, these warm-blooded animals have to take steps to stay cool.

One thing elephants do to stay cool is flap their ears. Scientists took a closer look at the ear flapping process and found that the cool air is absorbed through the thin skin on their ears. This sends cooler blood moving into the rest of their body.

Another way these massive mammals keep cool is by taking a bath. They take in water from a pond or stream and squirt it with their trunk onto their back. As the water evaporates, it cools their skin.

Elephants Have Hair

Growing hair is another characteristic of a mammal. Do elephants have hair?! Yes, they do! They have bristly hair on their heads and tails. Like other mammals, the amount of hair an elephant has helps it to survive in its particular environment.