AFRICAN ELEPHANT
Loxodonta africanus
Such massive creatures!. This one is at the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, SC. African elephants are the ones with the big ears. Elephants are pretty smart too and very playful. There is one at the San Francisco Zoo that was playing with a tire on a chain attached to a tree trunk. She would balance it so that it stood up on edge and then she would back away like she wasn't interested anymore and wander around a bit then sneak up and charge the tire, thumping it with her trunk or foot. I watched her for an hour. She even grinned.
Now I know that one of the functions of those big ears is to keep us from mistaking them for Asian elephants which have much smaller ears. More importantly, they help the elephant to cool off by exposing a lot of surface area with many little capillaries running through it. Air conditioners, so to speak, especially when they flap them and get them wet. However I am no expert on elephants, so if you click this link, you can learn more about the largest land creature on our planet. African Elephant
More of my photos:
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African Elephant 1 |
African Elephant 2 |
African Elephant 3 |
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African Elephant 4 |
African Elephant 5 |
African Elephant 6 |
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African Elephant 7 |
African Elephant 8 |
African Elephant 9 |