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you you elephant the largest and heaviest land animal on earth a gentle giant that is influenced history and to this day plays a sizable role in many cultures and religions if its many unusual aspects both physical and historical could be found in an elephant ceremonial garment or caparison then this elephant might carry the story of all elephants they have been gods symbols of political parties ancient toys the beasts of burden in war and peace according to Rudyard Kipling's story the elephant child the elephant's trunk was stretched to its present length by a crocodile now the elephant wins the largest nose in the world contest by a little more than the nose the closest contender the elephant seal and the elephant true come a poor second to our mighty pachyderm but not all pachyderms are elephants the town refers to rhinos - and simply means thick-skinned although elephant skin can be up to two and a half centimetres thick it's not their most distinguishing feature as a famous poem reveals when people call this beasts to mind they marvel more and more at such a little tale behind so large a trunk before the trunk is actually part nose and part upper lip a mass of a hundred thousand separate muscles with the power to shake down a meal and the precision to reap the rewards in its search for succulent leaves but trunk can reach higher than the tallest animal the giraffe wielding a leafy fan it can swat away irritating flies with a twenty five liter water capacity it's a squirt gun that works best when it backfires and with help from the tusks a trunk can maneuver massive logs when it comes to the dexterity and power needed to move this temple in India the elephant has a head start the trunk may be a wonderful device for breathing through but we often imagine that it has other more musical uses elephants belong to a family known as Provost Kadir animals with a trunk a short snouted mower aetherium was one of the earliest elephant ancestors later came dinner theory with its backward curved tasks for digging roots gone for Theorem stood three meters tall had a shovel shaped lower jaw and tusks mammoths were the closest relatives of modern-day elephants but were driven into extinction by climate changes and hunting the first complete mammoth was discovered in 1799 by a Russian fisherman peering into a wall of ice mammoths frozen for over 40,000 years have been found in the icebox of Siberia some of the most impressive mammoth bones and tusks have come from the homes of ancient peoples one of the last elephants to go extinct was the pygmy elephant from Sicily at only one and a half meters in height a baby pig meat was smaller than a sheep perhaps it adds credence to the legend of the rock a giant bird said to swoop down carry elephants away only two species of elephant remained today the African and the Asian the average Asian elephant tips the scales at about 4,000 kilograms give or take a caparison an 8 year old African female weighs in at 1,300 kilograms but a full-grown African bull breaks the scales at up to 7,000 kilos another difference between the African and Asian is in the curve of their backs the African elephant is saddle backed the asian more humpbacked but when it comes to the biggest difference the ears have it an African elephants ears are much larger than the Nations however where shape is concerned the ear of the African and that of the Asian neatly illustrate just where in the world you can a lesser-known difference but very significant is in the grip tips or fingers of the elephant's trunk the Asian elephant has one triangular finger at the end of its trunk and grips by pressing this against the broad underside of the trunk the African elephant has two opposing fingers and because of this additional finger can pick up anything from a banana to a tiny seed it can even turn the pages of its own story with such precise fingers it's no wonder that the Sanskrit word for trunk hasta is the same as for hand and the sanskrit term for the elephant means animal with hand elephants even greet each other with their trunks their own version all elephants except for female Asian elephants can grow very large tusks the longest tasks on record belong to the mammoth curving up to five meters in length tasks are actually on elephants front teeth which continue to grow throughout life that they're constantly worn down by activities such as digging in this case the elephant is digging for mineral salts an important supplement to an elephant's diet just as people are right or left handed elephants are right or left tasks and the shorter of the two indicates which one does most of the work for young elephants tasks sparring is not only fun but good training for future bouts when they're adults they'll have to fight other males for territory and females and tasks can be lethal weapons some fights between huge Tuscans can end in death for the para hara festival in sri lanka tasks a shield with gold the most unusual tooth is a relic in a gold box the box is said to contain the actual tooth of the Buddha and is the focus of a huge parade with over a hundred elephants force to need an elaborate comparisons the festivities continue long into the night illuminated by torches and a hundreds of lights and fleurs adorning the elephant comparisons one of the Buddha's most famous incarnations was as an elephant with six tusks who agreed to sacrifice four of them to satisfy the greed of man and his demand for ivory elephants with four tasks and even seven have actually been recorded the result of the deformity in the Tusk route tusks grow about 17 centimeters a year throughout an elephant's life and who knows maybe one of this Africans tasks will surpass the largest elephant tusks on record nearly four meters long and weighing a hundred and seven kilograms as well as inspiring or such tasks have also inspired greed why has elephant ivory or white gold always been so desirable ivory is easily carved it's durable pleasing to the touch and until recently readily available for the taking although ivory was used to make some of the earliest works of art 27,000 years ago today's demand threatens the elephant's survival despite bands and the burning of illegally poached ivory many elephants continue to be slaughtered to satisfy the human desire for white goal humans have long been the greatest threat to elephants while natural predators even the king of beasts pose little danger to the combined might of the herd every elephant likes to throw its weight around and protect its territory against trespasser this youngster makes a game of it with some noisy minor birds although an elephant's front teeth get most of the attention it's their massive molars that put in the longest hours they have to in the top jaw and to in the lower with the wear and tear of almost non-stop eating they go through six sets of molars in a lifetime these voracious vegetarians spend up to three-quarters of their day chewing making them the biggest eaters on land the poor quality of the foods they eat has to be made up for by quantity an elephant gets through a hundred to two hundred kilograms of vegetation a day clearing dense woodland they have been the biggest single influence in creating the open grasslands of Africa such monstrous appetites pay little attention to what is wild grown and what is cultivated if anything they prefer the tastier human produce making the multi-ton pests to local farmers if a farmer's crop is as high as an elephant's eye a real one it can mean disaster every year wherever elephants live they eat or trample over a hundred million dollars worth of crops who can blame the farmers for trying to drive them off elephants can be frightened away by fire and loud noises but mice just an old wives tale given the elephant's eyes and strength it's no wonder it was man's supreme war machine for thousands of years Kings rode into battle and directed maneuvers from their state elephant some of the greatest military campaigns hinged on the use of these predecessors - the tank Hannibal took elephants across Spain and over the French Alps in his attempt to conquer Rome in 326 BC Alexander's campaign to reach the eastern sea failed because his troops were terrified of the enemy's elephants as well as the terror they inspired they were the perfect platform for archers as warfare evolved anti elephant soldiers use torches and Spears to panic the enemy's elephants to turn them and send them stampeding back into their own troops driver of a maddened elephant would then resort the ancient version of the sign on it build a mallet and a spike driven into the elephant's backbone fortunately this is only a nightmare of the distant past with the advent of firearms 500 years ago elephants were relegated to the supply lines as recently as the Vietnam War elephants were still being used to move equipment down the Ho Chi Minh Trail it's the elephant's foot that makes it such a superior off-road vehicle as well as being equipped with the original non-slip tread when an elephant's foot lands it expands to distribute weight and like a good tire grips more of the road the elephant actually walks on its toes its ponderous footfalls cushioned by a great squashy pad the largest animal to walk on tiptoe also has a skeleton up to the job like a bridge the elephant spine supplies the load-bearing arch required to support its weight the legs provide such a sturdy base that an elephant can sleep standing up surprisingly similar bone and tooth structures make the tiny hyrax the elephant's closest cousin but higher axes have never been known to enjoy a good game of soccer at an elephant festival in Thailand they love to show off their skills although they may never win the blood Cup when thailand was still siam the sacred white elephant dominated the country's flag and religious life as well worship like living gods they lived in palaces and enjoyed lives of pampered luxury baby white elephants were even circled by human witnesses when a new temple was to be built a white elephant was set loose to find the sacred site as this statue shows they're more of a chocolate color than white they inspired carvings in gold and life-sized stone effigies that became the very foundations of a temple in ancient siam elephants were also used as executioner's when the King declared in with his head the doomed man was placed under an elephant's foot and crashed in the wild elephants rarely killed people a mother protecting her young can be dangerous but usually she'll just keep her body between her child and any threat being overprotective comes with good cause a baby elephant spends 22 months in the womb over a year longer than a human baby after 90 kilos they're the biggest babies able to play in the mud a baby's arrival is also important to the herd which helps with babysitting and can offer a push when needed with an average lifespan of 70 years an elephant's childhood lasts as long as hours it is a youth field with much to learn adults to imitate and lots of time for playing elephant twins are extremely rare they make up double the weight they need double the milk to feed them and they're double the trouble a mother of twins would be unable to cope if it wasn't for the help she receives from the herd led by a dominant female usually an old grandmother known as the matriarch female elephants herd together in small groups of about ten which also include calves of both sexes the matriarch initiates the daily moods from the feeding grounds to the watering hole as the family travels the herd can swell as other family groups join the parade herds can grow from tens to hundreds in the course of a day being the oldest and wisest and the one with the longest memory it is the matriarch who knows best the began's - the matriarch is rewarded by her expertise in locating food sort and much-needed water though she has the hefty responsibility of handing down her knowledge to our daughters like any other elephant she can't resist the opportunity for a swim just as elephants in the wild place their trust in the matriarch captive elephants follow a new leader from the human planet there's given taking this relationship for a thermal route were to forget to give his elephant a buck it would almost certainly refuse to work for him a good bath is only the beginning of an elephant's need for water a drop in a bucket compared to the 220 liters a grown elephant can drink every day as most elephants live in very warm climates they're great bulks are easily overheated water shade and mud are all used to keep them crying even dust provides a kind of sunblock ears can help - they have a thin skin and thick veins when flat air rushes over the veins and like a car's radiator release excess heat for thousands of years elephants have been tamed and trained by people African elephants have never trained as successfully as their Asian counterparts few getting past the most difficult part of accepting men on their backs Asians by contrast are easier to train and take better to being ridden they can follow commands within weeks quickly mastering nearly a hundred separate instructions making elephants the most intelligent of all domesticated animals one of the first things an elephant learns is to hold a rope which this African elephant can manage easily keeping it there is a different proposition altogether though people have long thought the African elephant too while to train it may have more to do with the fact that Africa has never had the same elephant cultures Asia where it continues to thrive today in many remote areas of Southeast Asia it's still more economical to use elephants in modern machinery which makes them prized labor-saving devices the well-trained elephant can cost from twenty to forty thousand dollars well worth it considering the man-hours that can be saved by these powerful and hardworking animals in the West elephants have paraded into popular culture from Babar to the elephants of the circus some have even played nannies in the East with its long history of elephant culture elephants belong to more ancient traditions Hindus worship Ganesh god of students teachers and exams and they feared Gaja surah the DVD destruction that can possess any ailment the destructive rogue elephant is very much a reality but there is a reason for its dangerous behavior must a glandular condition that affect bull elephants once a year during must they seek out females and may become extremely aggressive unpredictable behavior is one reason adult males are not tolerated in female society boars may form goose holes but they never approached the social complexity of the female herds some males set out on their own and recently scientists discovered that they keep in touch with the female herds by using sounds well below the human hearing range infrasound is generated within the swimming forehead and is so low that two thirds of elephant communication can't be heard by humans it creates ripples in the water by its vibrations and could be heard eight kilometres away if 2/3 of what an elephant hears is below human hearing then to an elephant Talzin must have sounded like a falsetto though elephant sounds can be measured their emotions can't observation of their behavior toward elephant remains such as these skulls suggests that they mourn their dead and experience a kind of grief such observations have contributed to the romantic notion of elephant graveyards a graveyard sites are most likely the result of weary and dying elephants seeking the one thing that can support their tremendous weight in water over the years the corpses may connect in one area giving the false impression of a communal death site bones aren't the only thing that elephants leave behind they are nature's greatest producers of fertilizing with the output of a fully grown elephant reaching 136 kilos a day what appears to be waste to an elephant is just the beginning for many plants animals and insects the Bulls pick at it for undigested seeds franklin's find a nest in it with central heating no less dung beetles derive their name from it and they're so devoted to it a pile of dung can be more dung beetle than dung not a bad thing since they take so much of it away when water and food are scarce elephants can teach us a lot about recycling our own waste providing the stuff of life for many dumb dependent species is only one of the services elephants perform for their community many seeds depend on elephants for dispersal and propagation everywhere elephants go they transform and shape the landscape they pull down trees break up bushes carve the rocks with their tusks create salt licks for all to use and with their broad feet cut trails that may be used for thousands of years this multitude of effects on the habitat has led scientists to describe elephants as a keystone species and like the keystone of an arch if the elephant were removed then the entire ecosystem of the vast African grasslands could collapse elephants are even becoming the keystone of some human economies such as the tourist industry in Kenya in providing a solution to human needs the elephant performs a role it has long played in Buddhism for in Buddhism the elephant symbolizes the Bodhisattva the one who brings salvation from worldly entanglements by sharing its wisdom if the elephant does carry the wisdom of the ages how appropriate them that in China the phrase to ride an elephant is the same as the word for happiness you