In Photos: Elephants

Their trunks, tusks, intelligence and immense size sets elephants in a class of their own! Get to know the largest land animal on the planet.

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Asian Elephant

Asian elephants ears are much smaller than their African counterparts.
Kilimanjaro

Under the watchful eye of Kilimanjaro and attentive cattle egrets (the white birds hitching a lift) a herd of elephants moves through the on.
African Elephant Family

Led by a dominant matriarchal female, African elephant herds cover great distances to waterholes and feeding spots.
Skin

Elephants have very thick, wrinkled hide which protects them from wayward tusks, parasites and the beating sun.
Asian Elephant's Drinking

Elephants have a great affinity with water. It is not strange to see elephants completely submerged or swimming out in the open sea. Perhaps their trunk evolved as a snorkel?
Elephant Swimming

Could the elephant's trunk have originally evolved as a snorkel?
Elephant Squirting Water

An African elephant squirts water at a herd of zebra.
Young Elephant Periscoping

Elephant's 'periscope' with their trunks in order to better smell their environment. You may sometimes see an adult elephant's trunk popping up over the top of trees before you see the elephant!
The Trunk

One sure-fire way of telling the difference between elephant species is that Asian elephant trunk only has one 'finger' (such as in this photo) while African elephants have two.

These are used for grasping and manipulating objects such as food.
Elephant Feet

Elephants have padded feet which help to distribute their massive bulk along a large surface area. These cushions also take some of the stress of walking away from their knees.

Elephants can communicate using infra-sound - a frequency that humans are unable to hear. They seem to be able to do this through the ground, 'hearing' these low vocalisations through their padded feet!