An elephant would be the largest animal on the planet if there were no whales. But among the fauna that lives on land, it is without a doubt the largest. Everyone knows that elephants have big ears. Another question is why do they need it? Why does an elephant have big ears, and does this mean that the largest land animals have perfect ears? This is what will be discussed in the article.
Short description
The first thing that catches your eye when looking at an elephant is the trunk. The second, of course, is huge ears, which, as it seems, animals are slowly fanning themselves.
To understand why an elephant has big ears, you need to have an idea of these creatures, at least in general terms. Gigantic sizes protected animals from predators, but to feed such a huge mass will require a lot of resources. An adult consumes up to 200 kg of greens and up to 200 liters of water per day. At the same time, the largest representative of the species can reach a weight of 7.5 tons and grow up to 4 meters.
One remarkable moment in the structure of the elephant’s body is the trunk, which carries a multifunctional load. This is a nose, and a mouth, and a hand, and a defensive means. With the help of a trunk, an elephant can lift both a heavy log and a lightest match from the surface of the earth. Another remarkable organ is its huge ears, whose weight is about 50 kg with a length of up to 1.8 meters. So why does an elephant have big ears? But more on that later. In the meantime, some more interesting facts.
It is also noteworthy that these animals can be left-handed and right-handed, which is noticeable by the weariness of their tusks. For example, a left-handed elephant will have more precisely erased the left tusk.
The life spans of the giants described are, on average, about 80 years. The female carries the calf for 22 months and takes care of the elephant calf up to about 15 years of age, simultaneously helping in the education of nephews, sisters and brothers and other small relatives. Elephants live in small families, which can have up to 10 individuals, consisting of grandmothers, mothers, sisters and even great-grandmothers.
The high intellectual abilities of these animals are also known, which are among the ten most intelligent creatures on the planet. They are emotional, they have a great memory and they have a large set of sounds with which they can communicate with each other.
Habitat
Elephants are common in Africa, India and Ceylon, as well as in some Asian regions. They are nomads who, in search of food, are able to travel hundreds of kilometers of the path.
And this is no wonder, because in order to feed such a huge body you need a lot of grass, leaves, nuts and fruits. Once there were elephant herds, the number of which reached 400 or more individuals.
African and Indian elephants
There are two types of elephants - these are African and Asian, better known as Indian. African is about three times larger. Why does an African elephant have big ears, which are much larger than its Indian relative? This is due to body size. The height at the withers of an African male reaches 4 m with a weight of more than five tons. Females are a bit smaller. Its tusks can grow up to 3.5 m and are used to dig up roots.
However, the differences between these types of elephants are not only in the size of the ears. The skin of the Africans is wrinkled, as if wrinkled, while the Indians have much smoother skin. In addition, at the end of the trunk of the African elephant there are two peculiar fingers, while the Indian colleague has only one finger, which is not so convenient when grabbing objects.
Food for these animals takes up to 16 hours a day. The sounds made by elephants are heard at a distance of 10 km. It would seem that with such gigantic ears, they should have excellent hearing, and this is almost the case, but the size of the organ of hearing serves slightly different purposes.
Why do elephants have very big ears
Elephants are excellent swimmers. They are able to stay on the water for about 6 hours in a row without touching the bottom. These animals do not have sweat glands, and they cool their body in two ways. One of them is a shower from the water collected in the trunk. Another is the answer to the question: “Why does the elephant have big ears?”
Ears serve elephants as air conditioners. Naturally, huge air conditioners are also needed for a large body. Elephants move their ears, but this is not to fan them like a fan.
In the elephant ears there are many large capillaries that expand during the heat and taper in the cold. In a particularly hot time, with a leisurely movement of the ears, the air flowing through the dilated vessels cools the blood running through them. The huge size of the ears helps to cool more blood flowing through a grid of vessels located on the surface of the ear. Chilled blood then enters the body, preventing it from overheating. In addition, with the help of ears and a trunk, elephants successfully drive away annoying insects.
Each natural phenomenon has a functional meaning. Everything is harmonious in it, and everything is in its place. Whether it's the size of an elephant’s ears or any other natural reality.