While at the elephant exhibit you can share the following information with those with you. The student worksheets have blanks for them to fill in. The answers are the BOLD words in the following statements:

1. Elephants are the LARGEST land mammal weighing up to 14,000 pounds, which is more than twice the weight of a Humvee which weighs 6,500 pounds. (See Fast Facts: Elephant, Ep 1)

2. There are two species of elephants, the AFRICAN and the ASIAN. (See Fast Facts: Elephant, Ep. 1)

3. Which elephant has two "fingers" on its trunk? AFRICAN (See Fast Facts: Elephant, Ep 2)

4. An elephant's trunk has over 100,000 muscles weighing up to 300 pounds. (See Fast Facts: Elephant, Ep. 3)

5. An elephant can lift up to 600 POUNDS with its trunk. (See Fast Facts: Elephant, Ep. 4)

6. Elephants can run all of the blood in their bodies through their ears in 20 MINUTES. By flapping them, they can decrease their body temperature 10 DEGREES very quickly. (See Fast Facts: Elephant, Ep. 5)

7. Elephants walk on their toes and have a PAD OF FAT at the base of their feet making it more comfortable for these massive beasts as they walk. (See Fast Facts: Elephant, Ep. 6)

BONUS INFORMATION:

Here's some additional information for you to share with those that are with you:

A. There’s another reason for that pad of fat in the feet of the elephant. Imagine you’re walking in wet mud. What happens when your foot sinks into the ground? Your foot gets stuck and your shoe can even get sucked off when you pull your foot out. This pad of fat at the base of the elephants foot allows for their foot to spread out when they put their weight on it. Their foot can be the size of a welcome mat when standing on it. When they lift their foot and the pressure is taken off of their foot and it will shrink back to its normal size. This makes it so they don’t get stuck in mud!! That’s amazing design, by an amazing designer!

B. African elephants are classified as a "keystone species", which means they play a critical role in their ecosystem. Just one example of why is that during the dry season, they use their tusks to dig up dry riverbeds and in doing so they create watering holes that many animals drink from. The elephants dung contains seeds from the variety of plants that they eat, so they help start new plants wherever they travel.

C. Maybe you’ve seen cartoons showing elephants afraid of mice. Well, that’s not true. BUT, they are afraid of bees. Some farms in Asia and Africa now use bees to deter elephants from entering certain areas.