| from a highly packed feeding schedule. Elephants spend between 12 to 16 hours a day feeding on grass, leaves, branches and fruits. Because their digestive system is not very efficient (they digest only 40% of what they eat), elephants must make up for it in volume. That translates to roughly 400-600 lbs of food. Here, a baby elephant raises its trunk to track the scent (possibly ours) in between two sips of water. Each sip consists of water intake through the trunk (has two lobes and takes in about 10 litres per sip), which is then sprayed in to the mouth. Depending on the temperature, elephants drink between 80 to 200 litres a day. Elephant calves are highly protected and always seen with an adult (usually the mother). Try to get anywhere close to the baby and the mother will charge for sure. An interesting fact that I just found out: elephants walk on their toes (tip-toed) to minimize the noise when they walk over leaves and branches. Given their size and weight, I'd say why bother! |
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