Meet the Mascot: Asian Elephant

Scientific Name: Elephas maximus

Length: 18-21 feet

Height: 6 to 12 feet tall at the shoulder

Weight: 4,400 - 12,000 pounds

Gestation Period: 18-22 months

Life Span: 60 to 70 years

Interesting Facts:

Asian elephants are the largest land mammal on the Asian continent.
Asian elephants' trunks contain around 100,000 muscles.
Asian elephants use low-frequency sound waves for communication.
Asian elephants are extremely sociable, forming groups of females.

Diet

They spend up to 19 hours a day feeding mostly on grasses. However, they also eat large amounts of tree bark, roots, leaves, and small stems. They enjoy cultivated crops such as bananas, rice, and sugarcane and always stay close to a source of water because they need to drink water at least once a day. They can consume around 300 pounds of food a day!

Characteristics

They are thick-skinned herbivores with fan-shaped ears and large trunks. Both males and females can have tusks, though not all of them develop them. Tusks tend to be smaller in Asian elephants compared to their African relatives.