One of the easiest ways to tell a species of elephant apart is from the shape of their ears. African elephants have ears resembling the geometry of Africa while Asian elephants have ears that resemble the geometric shape of continental Asia. Asian elephants have significantly smaller ears than their African counterparts.

Photo: African Elephant

And just as a human baby sucks its thumb, an elephant calf often sucks its trunk for comfort. One elephant can eat 300 pounds (136 kilograms) of food in one day. An adult African elephant's trunk is about seven feet (two meters) long! It's actually an elongated nose and upper lip. Like most noses, trunks are for smelling.

Photo: Calf Sucking it's trunk

An African elephant has about 100,000 muscles in its trunk. That's why it can pick up and squash food. Elephants use their tusks for multiple purposes, including social interaction with other elephants. Two fingerlike parts on the tip of the trunk allow the elephant to perform delicate maneuvers such as picking a berry from the ground or plucking a single leaf off a tree. Elephants can also use its trunk to grasp an entire tree branch and pull it down to its mouth and to yank up clumps of grasses and shove the greenery into their mouths.

Photo: Mother Guiding a Calf

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