US NewsBotswana lifts ban on elephant hunting

The African elephant is the largest extant land mammal in the world. Bull (male) elephants can weigh up to seven tons (14,000 lbs. or 6,350 kg) and stand 13 ft (four meters) tall at the shoulder. Their Asian cousins aren’t far off that mark – adult males can weigh five tons (10,000 lbs. or 4,536 kg) and stand 10 ft (three meters) tall.

Did you know elephant mothers carry their babies in the womb for nearly two years? This is the longest gestation period among all mammals; others that come close are rhinos (450 days), giraffes (400-460 days) and camels (410 days). Baby African elephants can weigh over 200 lbs. (91 kg) and stand three feet (0.9 m) tall at birth.

Unsurprisingly, the world’s largest land mammal has the world’s largest brain - they usually weigh between eight and 12 lbs. (3.6 and 5.4 kg). At birth, the brain is only 35 percent of its full size, indicating a vast potential to learn and adapt. The sheer size and complexity of the brain manifests itself in many ways, including the ability to recognize different human languages, according to researchers from the University of Sussex in the U.K.

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Botswana has lifted its ban on elephant hunting in a country with the world’s highest number of the animals, a decision that has brought anger from some wildlife protection groups and warnings of a blow to lucrative tourism. The southern African nation is home to an estimated 130,000 elephants .

Botswana has lifted its ban on big game hunting , with officials blaming a rise in “human- elephant conflict” for the decision. Big game hunting has been banned in Botswana since 2014 but some lawmakers say the rising elephant population has caused problems for small-scale farmers and rural

Enormous brains mean elephants have exceptional memories. Herds travel large distances in search of food and mates and individual members often remember specific locations. Individual elephants also build and maintain relationships with others, sometimes remembering friends they may have met years ago. More incredibly, all this knowledge is passed down from generation to generation.

Elephant herds are led by matriarchs – the oldest female member. Typically, herds consist of the matriarch, her sisters and the children. Male elephants leave the herd around the time they hit puberty (between 12 and 15 years of age in the wild) and usually live solitary lives, meeting with herds only during mating season.

The elephant’s body is full of amazing scientific details, and this includes its legs. These are positioned vertically under the body and engineered to support massive weights. Interestingly, elephant legs are designed so the animals actually walk on tip-toe.

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They eat for up to 16 hours a day. In the wild, individuals may consume 600 lbs. (272 kg) in a day; the average is 300 lbs. (130 kg). Zoo elephants don't eat quite as much - they are fed less because they aren't as active as their wild cousins. In either case, elephants eat grass, fruits and tree bark.

Did you know elephants are non-ruminant herbivores? This means that unlike cows or goats or deer, they don’t chew cud. Instead, they produce methane gas – a lot of methane gas! Scientists believe they produce enough to power a car for 20 miles (32.2 km). They also produce 220 to 250 lbs. (100 to 114 kg) of fecal matter every day!

An elephant’s trunk is an astonishing piece of evolutionary engineering. Made of flesh, muscle, fat and tissue, an adult elephant’s trunk can weigh close to 330 lbs. (150 kg) and is used for a variety of purposes, including communication. Trunks are also used as sensory aides – baby elephants, for example, use their trunks to locate their mothers, and adults will use them to grab tufts of grass off the forest floor.

Elephants love taking baths. Weirdly though, they also slapping wet mud on themselves when they come out of a river or pond. Why? Because this helps control body temperature and fight off damaging radiation in the sun’s rays. This is why they sometimes appear to be orange or brown – their natural skin color is gray.

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Just like everything else about them, elephant skin is big! An adult elephant’s skin can weigh as much as 2,000 lbs. (910 kg). This skin is heavily wrinkled, particularly around the shoulders and the stomach, as this helps in retaining moisture and keeping the elephant cool during the hot summers.

Did you know elephants have the longest eyelashes of any animal in the world? An elephant's eyelash can be five inches (12.7 cm) long and it helps keep the eye safe from dust and foreign particles.

An elephant’s heart is usually 0.5 percent of its total body weight. This means that if an elephant weighs 10,000 lbs. (4,535 kg), then its heart could weigh 50 lbs. (23 kg). If that sounds massive, that’s because it is; by contrast, an average adult human’s heart weighs 11 oz. (310 grams).

Elephants don’t abandon members of the herd when under attack. The stronger individuals form protective circles around elderly, sick or young elephants. Mothers will often even face down predators like lions and leopards to defend their children. Members of the herd will also help and support calving females and take turns protecting and nurturing the young till the mother is ready to nurse.

Interestingly, just like human beings, elephants can be left- or right-handed; technically, that’s left- or right-tusked. Individual elephants have been known to prefer one tusk over the other when fighting or digging.

The Mystery of the Disappearing Elephant-Seal Dialects

The first ever documented in another species of mammal, these dialects may have been a side effect of the seals’ encounters with humans.

Elephants are hunted and killed, often brutally, for their tusks. These beautiful pieces of ivory are actually enlarged teeth (incisors in the case of elephants) and are used for a variety of purposes – from fighting off (the rare) predators to foraging and clearing a path through bristly undergrowth. All African elephants – male or female – have tusks, but among Asian elephants, only males have them.

Elephants use their giant ears as fans to help circulate air and cool the blood as it moves through their giant body. This is one reason why ear sizes differ greatly between Asian and African elephants – the latter have larger ears to help cope with hotter climates. African elephant ears can grow to be six feet (1.8 m) from top to bottom and five feet (1.5 m) across.

It isn’t just myth. Elephants truly are gentle giants and have been known to display kindness and compassion both towards each other and other animals, including human beings. There have been cases where an elephant sat with an injured person till help arrived and, in one famous incident, an elephant in India refused to drop logs into a hole because she spotted a dog sleeping inside.

Amazingly, elephants are afraid of bees! According to researchers from the University of Sussex in the U.K., they have alarm calls reserved for the spotting of bees or their hives.

According to researchers in Namibia, elephants can detect thunderstorms 150 miles (240 km) away. The team of scientists analyzed GPS data generated by 14 herds over seven years and found herds moved in the direction of rainfall when looking for water.

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While an elephant is unlikely to ever re-create a Picasso or a Degas, the amazing dexterity of their trunk, coupled with the animal’s natural intelligence, means elephants can be trained to paint at a basic level.

Male elephants – both African and Asian – have been known to mount members of the same sex and display forms of affection, such as intertwining of trunks, between each other. These relationships could last for several years and possibly develop to help males remain connected to their species despite living solitary lives.

These intelligent and gentle animals are fighting to avoid extinction. African elephants have been classified as Vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and their Asian cousins are in even greater danger – they are classified as Endangered.