Elephants
The African elephant is the world's largest land mammal – with males on average measuring up to 3m high and weighing up to 6 tonnes.
Wild elephants can live for up to 60-70 years.
At birth elephants can weigh 120kg.
Elephants have around 150,000 muscle units in their trunk.
Their trunks are perhaps the most sensitive organ found in any mammal.
Elephants use their trunks to suck up water to drink – it can contain up to 8 litres of water. They also use their trunks as a snorkel when swimming.
An elephant’s skin is 2.5cm thick in most places. The folds and wrinkles in their skin can retain up to 10 times more water than flat skin does, which helps to cool them down.
They keep their skin clean and protect themselves from sunburn by taking regular dust and mud baths.
Elephants need up to 150kg of food per day – that's around 375 tins of baked beans although half of this may leave the body undigested.
Around 90% of African elephants have been wiped out in the past century - largely due to the ivory trade - leaving an estimated 415,000 wild elephants alive today.
