Page 45 - The World of Animals

One full-grown elephant can eat 330 kilograms (726 pounds) of
plants everyday. This amount is equal to six small bales of straw.
Everyday, elephants spend most of their time feeding themselves.

Now, let us give you another interesting piece of information about

elephants. Have you ever thought how these huge thick-skinned
animals cool themselves? As you might imagine, elephants cannot
sweat because of their thick skins. Instead, they cool themselves with

the help of the water and mud they see around. Of course, elephants

have other methods to freshen themselves. For example, they use their
ears as fans and cool their bodies with them. The thin blood veins on
their ears also cool them and cause overall refreshment.

Another feature of elephants has surprised hunters and zoologists

for a long time. What astonished them was the rumbling of elephants'
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stomachs. While rumbling, elephants' stomachs make very loud
noises. Yet, what is astonishing is not the loudness of these noises but

the way elephants control them. In fact these noises have nothing to

do with digestion. The elephants make these noises to detect the
location of their friends. More
surprisingly, in the face of a

danger, they all of a sudden

become silent. Once they
sense the threat is over, they
start making noise again.

Thanks to this method,

elephants can communicate
with one another even from
four kilometres away.