Where an elephant lives, you can find out by its name

Today everyone knows about elephants, there is not,probably no one who has not heard anything about these amazing animals. Yes, and to see them at the present time is not a big problem - they are found in almost all large menageries, perform in many circuses of the world. But about where the elephant lives in nature, not everyone knows.

The detachment of these animals now has only twospecies: African and Indian. The rest, for example, mammoths and American mastodons, have already died out. By the name of the species it is easy to determine where the elephant lives. African are found in the savannas of this continent, in the central and northern parts, the Indian - in the South-East and South Asia, because of this they are also called Asian. In the past, the distribution of these amazing animals was much wider, they lived on all continents, except for Australia and Antarctica.

Who they are and how they look

Unlike the ancient ancestors, modernelephants have only one pair of tusks, and there are no incisors and fangs. They have a massive skeleton, which is almost 15% of the body weight. On the thick skin, there are rare hair, while the newborns are loosened more shaggy.

These animals were endowed with an amazing part of the body - a trunk that plays a very important role in the life of elephants. The trunk has considerable strength, it can lift a weight of one ton.

In the territory where the elephant lives, these animalsmove in herds, which includes dozens of females, young individuals and small elephants. The herd is headed by an adult leader. Singles are rare and represent a danger to people, as they are more aggressive than their herd cousins.

The main part of their lives animals spend inmoving slowly from place to place, eating leaves and bark from trees. And although they look awkward, if necessary, they can move with surprising ease. Their limbs serve not only as a reliable support, but also allow you to move on any surface, even along the swamp. Being land animals, they are, nevertheless, good swimmers, able to swim without stopping all day.

The average life expectancy of an elephant, likeperson, is 50-70 years old. But until old age animals rarely live out. In the area where the elephant lives, there are many predatory animals - lions, hyenas, wild dogs, which are dangerous for giants.

By intelligence with elephants, only dolphins, dogs and monkeys can compare. They have an excellent memory, and for the rest of their lives they remember places where they were ill, or people who offended them.

Elephants in India

Asian species can easily be distinguished from African, soas they have different ancestors, and they even look different in appearance. Indian representatives are lighter and weigh an average of 6 tons. They have a humpback back, while in Africa it is bent. The Indian have a high forehead, ears are triangular in shape and almost three times smaller than those of fellow Africans. Another difference is a smoother trunk with one flexible process at the end.

In Asia, to these majestic animals, alwaystreated with respect. Special honor to them became famous for India - elephants in this country are simply deified. The Hindu god of wisdom Ganesha is portrayed as a man with an elephant's head. No big holiday in this country can do without elephants in magnificently cleaned blankets.