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Elephants’ massive ears are one of their most distinguishable characteristics. Alongside their long trunks, an elephant’s big ears are the first thing we see. These large ears easily give ...
An African elephant’s ears are extremely large and billowing, while Asian elephant’s ears are smaller and look crumpled. An African elephant’s trunk is very different from an Asian elephant ...
The African bush elephant is characterised by its long prehensile trunk with two finger-like processes; a convex back; large ears which help reduce body heat; and sturdy tusks that are noticeably curved. The skin is grey with scanty hairs, and bending cracks which support thermoregulation by retaining water.
An elephant's skin is generally very tough, at 2.5 cm (1 in) thick on the back and parts of the head. The skin around the mouth, anus, and inside of the ear is considerably thinner. Elephants are typically grey, but African elephants look brown or reddish after rolling in coloured mud.
Elephants have four molars; each weighs about 5 kg (11 lb) and measures about 30 cm (12 in) long. As the front pair wears down and drops out in pieces, the back pair moves forward, and two new molars emerge in the back of the mouth. Elephants replace their teeth four to six times in their lifetimes.
Because hair retains body heat, modern large mammals such as elephants and rhinoceroses are largely hairless. Prothero has proposed that, contrary to most depictions, Paraceratherium had large elephant-like ears that it used for thermoregulation. The ears of elephants enlarge the body's surface area and are filled with blood vessels, making the ...
Asian elephants have also been known to drop large rocks onto an electric fence to break the fence or to cut off the electricity. [23] Asian elephants in India have been known to break electric fences using logs and clear the surrounding wires using their tusks to provide a safe passageway.
Its oval-shaped ears have small elliptical-shaped tips. [3] and the tip of the trunk has two finger-like processes. [13] The African forest elephant's tusks are straight and point downwards, [4] and are present in both males and females. [13]