• Elephants cannot reach the ground with their mouths because their necks are too short. To make up for their short neck, elephants have developed highly versatile trunks which enable them to feed from the ground and reach high in trees.
• A trunk weighs about 400 pounds, contains at least 40,000 muscles (and possibly up to 100,000), can hold up to 2.5 gallons of water and is so dexterous that it can pick up a grain of rice. Other uses of this versatile organ are smelling, snorkeling, lifting, greeting, caressing, fighting and vocalizing.
• Elephant herds are made up of related female family members and their immature offspring. The family unit is led by the oldest, and usually largest, female called the matriarch.
• As bulls reach 12-15 years of age, they often leave their natal group to wander alone. Bulls temporarily rejoin female-centered units to mate.
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