Elephants live inthe hoat countries of Africa and Asia. African and Asian elephants live the same kind of lives. But their bodies are very different. African elephants are bigger than Asian elephants. All African elephants grow tusks. Only some male Asian elephants grow tusks.

African elephants have very wrinkled skin,wide ears & Rough figure.Asian elephants have smoother skin than African elephants. Their ears are smaller and more pointed.

Elephants usually stay in the forests. They shelter there from the heat of the sun. At other times, they come into the open country where they like to eat the grass. In the early mornings and the late afternoons, when the sun is not so strong, elephants go to rivers or big waterholes. There, they drink and swim for many hours.

Head

An elephant has a large head. As it gets older, the head changes. The forehead grows into two big round shapes. An elephant has the largest brain of all the animals that live on land. Its brain weighs between 4.5 and 5.5 kilograms.

Feet and tail

Elephants have very big feet. Their feet are well padded, so that they can move silently across the earth. There are usually four toenails on each back foot, and five on each front foot. Some elephants, though, have twenty toenails.Elephants can have all sorts of tails. Some are short, some are long. Some are fat, some are skinny. Some are straight, some are crinkled. But all elephant tails are flat at the ends and have hair growing around the edge.

Tusks

Some male Asian elephants have tusks. These are long white teeth made of ivory. The ivory tusks are smooth and hard and the elephants can use ihem for many things. They can dig for roots to eat. or scrape bark off trees. They can move heavy loads. Elephant tusks can be different sizes, thick or thin, straight or curved. When the elephant is fully grown, the tusks are usually about 2 metres long and each may weigh about 18 kilograms.

Eyes

Even though elephants are large animals, they have small eyes. They cannot see very far at all. Elephants make up for their poor eyesight by being able to hear and smell very well.

Ears

Elephants have very good hearing. They can even hear sounds that humans cannot hear. The ears also help elephants keep cool. This is probably why their ears are so big.

Feeding and drinking

Elephants need a lot of food to keep their huge bodies strong and healthy. They mostly eat grass. They also like leaves, bark, wood and fruit. An adult elephant an eat from 100 to 200 kilograms of food each day. Elephants also drink a lot of water. Usually, they drink about 100 litres of water a day. But if they are very thirsty, they might drink 150 litres. Elephants can travel up to 30 kilometres a day to look for food and water. They travel all together in a herd. They move silently across the land on their huge padded feet.

Trunks

The elephant’s trunk is really part of the elephant’s nose and upper lip. It hangs from its head right down to the ground. Elephants can do many things with their trunks. They breathe through their trunks and they can smell things with them. They use their trunks to gather food and water. When an elephant drinks, it sucks water into its trunk. It then lifts its trunk and empties the water into its mouth. Sometimes, elephants keep cool by showering themselves with the water from their trunks. At other times, they blow water at each other.The elephants trunk can do delicate things. It can pick up a tiny piece of grass.

Elephants at the festivals

There are many religious festivals in Asia. At the festivals, people dress in brightly coloured costumes. They walk in the streets in long processions of musicians and dancers. Elephants take part in the festivals too, because they are special animals.

Raja goes to the festival

Raja is a working elephant in Sri Lanka. He works in a timber yard, hauling heavy logs. Every year Raja goes to the festival with his keeper, Ajit. The festival town is very beautiful. In the middle of the town, there is a big white temple with a wall of elephant statues around it. Elephants come from all over the country for the festival. People have come from all over the world. The festival is in honour of the gods who protect the town. In the late afternoon Ajit dresses Raja for the parade. He covers the elephant’s back with a red velvet cloth that glitters with sequins. Then Raja takes his place in the parade. In front of him, hundreds of drummers beat their drums. Dancers twirl and men carry large poles flaming with fire. Raja and the elephants look splendid in their rich colours. They walk slowly through the crowds to the big white temple. Here the parade ends. Raja makes a low bow. After the festival, Raja goes back to his village and to his hard work. Next year. he will go to the festival again.

Elephants communicate

Elephants use different ways to communicate with each other. They stroke each other with their trunks. They snort and squeal and make loud trumpeting noises. Elephant mothers call to their babies. Sometimes elephants make sounds so low that humans cannot hear them. But other elephants can hear the sounds, up to 5 kilometres away.

Elephants and People

Some elephants do not live in herds in the forest. Instead, they live in villages where people train them to work. They clear trees from the land so that people can build houses and plant crops for food. They load heavy logs on to trucks.

The elephant’s keeper

In Asia, the man who looks after a working elephant is called a mahout. The mahout guides the elephant as it works. He talks to the elephant with special words just for the elephant. The mahout tells the elephant to move forward or backward. He tells it when to pick up logs. Sometimes, the mahout sits on the elephant and tells it what to do by moving his feet behind its ears. At other times, the mahout uses - a long stick, called an ankus, to guide the elephant in its work.

Sharing the Land

Elephants have been on earth for thousands of years. It is sad to think that they may disappear in our lifetime. The forests of Asia are being cut down and the elephants have nowhere to go. Sometimes, the elephants try to walk to their waterholes, but they cannot get there because there are farms and buildings in the way. Then they may die of thirst. Sometimes, they are hungry and eat the farmers food crops. Then people get angry because they have no food.