how big is an african elephant ear

Full Answer

Can elephants really fly with there Big Ears?

Well … no. Elephants can’t fly. Unless, of course, the elephant in question is Dumbo. In the cartoon and the new, computer-enhanced live version of the tale, a baby elephant is born with enormous ears — even for an elephant. Those ears help him fly and soar to stardom in the circus.

How does elephant use it huge ears to keep cool?

15 Jan 2015

1. Sun protection. The large surface area and thinness of elephant ears help radiate heat to keep them cool in the blistering heat. ...
2. Communication. A lot of personality can be expressed through the ears, too, and elephants use ears to communicate visually. ...
3. Long-distance hearing. ...

How do you care for a mammoth elephant ear?

Tips & Tricks

• Maintaining The Oil Temp. First, let’s look at maintaining the oil temperature. ...
• Fully Cooked. Knowing when your elephant ear is done is another thing that can be hard to judge if you are new to working with oil.
• Mammoth In Size. The trick to making them mammoth in size lies in two different aspects of the cooking process. ...
• No Thermometer. ...

How to grow and care for elephant ear?

Elephant Ear Care . Grow elephant ears in slightly acidic soil in partial shade. As a native wetland plant, elephant ears like a lot of water. This makes them a good choice for wet areas where gardeners usually have trouble finding suitable plants. Some varieties are well suited for planting in large containers.

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How big is a real elephant ear?

The ears of African elephants can grow six feet (1.82 m) and 4 feet (1.21 m) wide. They resemble the shape of the African continent.

Why are African elephants ears so big?

The most important job of an elephant's ears has to do with temperature and the size of an elephant's ears correlates to the heat that dissipates through them. African elephants live in a sunnier, hotter climate than Asian elephants, which is why they need bigger ears.

How big is an elephant's ear canal?

The skull of the African elephant, due to its massive size, allows adequate space for an outer ear canal of about 20 cm in length which, in turn, provides protection for its very large tympanic membrane and large middle ear bones.

Which has bigger ears African or Indian elephant?

For example, Asian elephants' ears are smaller compared to the large fan-shaped ears of the African species. Only some male Asian elephants have tusks, while both male and female African elephants grow tusks.

Are elephant ear plants poisonous?

Elephant ear plants are indoor or outdoor plants with very large, arrow-shaped leaves. Poisoning may occur if you eat parts of this plant.

Why are elephants afraid of mice?

According to some, elephants are afraid of mice, because they fear that mice will crawl up their trunks. This could cause irritation and blockage, making it hard for elephants to breathe.

What has the biggest ear in the world?

The African elephant has the biggest ears of any living animal. These floppy appendages serve to quickly dissipate heat through the ears' many blood vessels into the air.

Do elephants flap ears when happy?

Flapping the ears can express excitement and joy. In turn, the beating of the ears on the skin can be heard. This sound causes other elephants to prick up their ears and to get in contact with the first elephant. In hot weather, elephants use their ears primarily to cool down, however.

Why do my elephant ears have holes in them?

Phyllosticta leaf spot This is a fungal disease that causes brown spots on the leaves of the Elephant ear plant. You'll soon see holes in the leaves of the infected plant. This disease makes your plant ugly. You need to fix this as soon as possible.

Can you ride an African elephant?

The simple fact is that elephants don't naturally let humans ride them. They have to be domesticated, and the process is much more brutal than breaking a horse. Many people want a photo on the back of an elephant, but don't realize what the animals have to go through for that photo op.

Which elephants are more aggressive?

Male elephants are more aggressive when fewer older males are present, new research suggests. The research, by the University of Exeter, suggests that the removal of old male elephants, which are often the targets of trophy hunting, could lead to increased human-wildlife conflict.

Are elephants friendly?

Elephants are highly sensitive and caring animals, much like humans. If a baby elephant cries, the herd will touch and caress the baby with their trunks to soothe it.

Why are the ears of elephants broad?

The African elephant has the biggest ears of any living animal. These floppy appendages serve to quickly dissipate heat through the ears' many blood vessels into the air. Asian elephants live amid the shaded—and cooler—cover of the rainforest, and hence have smaller ears.

Why do elephants have big floppy ears?

Elephants are huge, which means they produce a lot of body heat. Since elephants also typically live in very hot climates, it's essential that they have a very efficient way to get rid of their extra body heat. Luckily, elephants come with a built-in solution: big, floppy ears.

How does an elephant's big ears help it?

Blood vessels near the surface of the skin of the ears can release built-up heat through forced convection as the elephant flaps its ears. In addition, the large external part of each ear is thought to help the animal hear, by directing sounds in the environment to the inner ear.

What are 5 interesting facts about elephants?

Top 10 facts about elephantsThey're the world's largest land animal. ... You can tell the three species apart by their ears. ... Their trunks have mad skills. ... Their tusks are actually teeth. ... They've got thick skin. ... Elephants are constantly eating. ... They communicate through vibrations.More items...

Why do elephants have different ears?

African elephants live in extreme temperature environments and need a lot of protection from the sun. On the other hand, Asian elephants live in shady forests where they do not see a lot of sunlight.

How big are elephant ears?

African elephants’ ears can grow six feet long and four feet wide. The size of the ears of an elephant differs depending on the kind of elephant. An African ele phant has ears that can get as big as six feet long and four feet wide and resemble the shape of Africa’s continent. On the other hand,. Asian elephants’ ears are smaller ...

How far can an African elephant hear?

This elephant’s ears allow them to hear up to six miles away from their current location. They can also hear another elephant’s call up to two and a half miles away.

Do elephants sweat?

However, elephants are not able to sweat. The average African elephant weighs between 2.5 to 7 tons and produces a lot of body heat in hot climates. An elephant’s ears are made up of thousands of blood vessels that are thin and close to the skin. This allows the excess body heat to escape the elephant’s body to regulate their body temperature.

How does an elephant's trunk help it grow?

While feeding, the African elephant uses its trunk to pluck leaves and its tusk to tear at branches , which can cause enormous damage to foliage. Fermentation of the food takes place in the hindgut, thus enabling large food intakes. The large size and hindgut of the African elephant also allows for digestion of various plant parts, including fibrous stems, bark and roots.

What is the genetic diversity of African elephants?

The African forest elephant was found to have a high degree of genetic diversity, perhaps reflecting periodic fragmentation of their habitat during the climatic changes in the Pleistocene. Gene flow between the two African elephant species was examined at 21 locations.

How long does it take for an elephant to have a baby?

Elephants have the longest gestation period of any mammal, with each elephant species having a gestation period of roughly 22 months. However, there's slight variations between the African elephant (640–673 days), and the Asian elephant (623-729) (nbci.gov). As the largest land mammal on Earth, calves are born at about 200 pounds (90 kg). The elephant is a complex organism, with the trunk alone having roughly 100,000 muscles, making development stages very drawn out.

What is the name of the extinct African elephant?

Between the late 18th and 20th centuries, the following extinct African elephants were described on the basis of fossil remains: North African elephant ( Loxodonta africana pharaohensis) proposed by Paulus Edward Pieris Deraniyagala in 1948 was a specimen from Fayum in Egypt.

How many times do elephants replace their teeth?

Elephants replace their teeth four to six times in their lifetimes. Around 40 to 60 years of age, the elephant loses the last of its molars and will likely die of starvation, a common cause of death. African elephants have 24 teeth in total, six on each quadrant of the jaw.

What is the name of the elephant's teeth?

Loxodonte was proposed as generic name for the African elephant by Frédéric Cuvier in 1825. This name refers to the lozenge -shaped enamel of the molar teeth, which differs significantly from the rounded shape of the Asian elephant 's molar enamel. An anonymous author used the Latinized spelling Loxodonta in 1827.

Why are elephants important to African cultures?

It is also praised for its size, longevity, stamina, mental faculties, cooperative spirit, and loyalty. The animal's religious importance is mostly totemic. Many societies believed that their chiefs would be reincarnated as elephants. During the 10th century AD, the people of Igbo-Ukwu, near the Niger Delta, buried their leaders with elephant tusks.

Why are elephant ears smaller?

Asain elephants have smaller ears because they live in a cooler climate. African elephants’ ears are a lot bigger to help disperse the heat from their hotter environment.

What happens when an elephant puffs out its ears?

When threatened an elephant will puff out their ears and make themselves look even bigger in the hope, it will scare off the predator.

Which elephant has bigger ears?

African elephants have nearly three times bigger ears than Asian elephants. See below the size of their ears.

Where can you see blood vessels?

You can see the blood vessels behind the ears.

Why do elephants use fans?

It helps to promote blood circulation to the ears , says Willie Theison, Elephant Program Manager at the Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium, which in turn helps their entire body cool off, as described above. Second, and more obviously, it helps them swat away flies and insects near that part of their body, adds Conley. Elephants can make their own sunscreen along with these 13 other cool things you didn’t know elephants could do.

How to tell African elephants from Asian elephants?

“One easy way to tell Asian elephants from African elephants is that African elephant ears are shaped like the content of Africa.”.

What does an elephant's big ears do?

The large ears act as an air-conditioner. Elephants are huge animals, weighing between 5,000 to 13,000 pounds, so it takes a lot to keep them cool, which is where their big ears come into play.

Why are elephant ears important?

Elephant ears play an important role in their survival beyond mere hearing. When people think of elephants, they often immediately think of long trunks and massive, floppy ears ala Dumbo. But while you might assume that bigger ears automatically means extra sensitive hearing, that’s not always the case. In fact, elephant ears are so large ...

How do elephants communicate?

One way elephants communicate is through their ears. “In the wild, they may flare ears out as a warning to challengers, scare off potential threats, or to show excitement. They also can hold their ears out indicating that they are focusing or listening to something,” says Conley.

Do elephants have sweat glands?

Elephants don’t have very many sweat glands, which is what keeps humans and other animals from overheating. “Elephants do not have sweat glands (except for just above the toenails on the feet), so the large ears are an adaptation to help regulate their body temperature,” says Conley.

Do all elephants have the same ears?

Not all elephants have the same sized ears. According to Theison, African elephants have larger ears than Asian elephants. “Conservationists and researchers also use elephant ears as a means of identifying elephants. The patterns of the nicks, tears, and edges are unique to each elephant and help tell them apart,” adds Conley.

Facts about the Elephant Ear

There are some distinctive facts about elephant ears that make this animal so unique.

Other Interesting Facts about Elephants

The elephant is the largest land animal in the world. Elephants are most often gray or brown colored with a bit of coarse hair on their bodies. Elephants live in matriarchal societies. This means that the females lead the herd, usually the oldest female.

What Elephants do when they Meet

When an elephant meets another in the wild, they will often go over and touch their trunks together. This is a way of saying hello. It’s sort of like a “High Five.” Sometimes, they intertwine their trunks to show fondness. Elephants are gentle, friendly creatures.

How do Elephants Speak?

In most elephant species, there are five bones in the throat shaped like a box and connected with muscles, ligaments and tendons. They can make snorting or roaring sounds, as well as growling and barking sounds. In fact, elephants can perform quite a wide range of vocalizations including their most famous trumpeting sound.

Can You Adjust the Size of the Plant?

You may worry that the sheer size of this kind of plant is going to end up being too troublesome to work with, especially if you have a smaller yard.

How to increase the size of elephant ear plants?

One final option that you could also try to use to increase the size of the elephant ear plant is to try and give it even more of the nutrients that it would naturally eat. This can include more fertilizer, compost, mulch, and so on.

How wide do elephant ears grow?

They also tend to have a wide spread as well; most of the common species of the elephant ear grow into a spread (how wide the plant reaches from side to side) between one and four feet. This quickly and easily makes this plant a massive addition to any garden.

How to make a plant grow faster?

To make the plant more likely to grow faster, you are going to want to do the opposite of what you did to help to shrink the plant down to a more manageable level. For instance, when you do not allow the plant to get as many nutrients as it needs, it will not be able to grow larger because of that.

Why do people like different types of plants?

Because there are so many different types of plants that people enjoy adding to their garden, there will usually come a time when you desire a different kind of plant to complement the clusters of bright flowers on the lawn . People who value vibrant designs and bright colors might worry that these plants will be uninteresting.

When a plant has more nutrients than it needs to survive, it will continue using those excess nutrients to grow?

When the plant has more nutrients than it needs to survive, it will continue using those excess nutrients to grow taller, fuller, and have healthier and more vibrant leaves.

What happens when a plant doesn't have the energy it needs to grow?

When a plant’s body doesn’t have the energy needed to complete the cell functions, those impaired cell functions begin to die off and they are unable to continue growing . When you restrict the nutrients that the plant needs, what happens to it on a larger scale is that it will become stunted in its growth, creating a smaller variant ...

What is the name of the plant with purple leaves?

But plants of the Alocasia genus and Xanthosoma genus can also be known as elephant ears. Some popular varieties of elephant ear include: ‘Black Magic’: This was the first black cultivar with dusty purple-black leaves. The leaves fold upwards slightly.

What is an elephant ear?

Elephant ears are tropical perennial plants grown for the appeal of the large leaves rather than for their flowers. Elephant ear is the common name is used for several species in three plant genera— Colocasia, Alocasis, and Xanthosoma. The most commonly grown plant Colocasia esculenta, also known as taro. Whatever the species, elephant ears are ...

What kind of soil do elephant ears like?

Elephant ears grow best in a rich, humusy soil that is moist to the point of being wet. This plant is ideal for boggy areas, marshes, swampland, or around water gardens.

What is a lime zinger?

The plants spread by underground runners rather than tubers or corms. ‘Lime Zinger’: This plant is a brilliant chartreuse green cultivar in the Xanthosoma genus. ‘ Mojito’: This variety features dull green leaves that are irregularly splotched, speckled, and streaked with black.

What zones do elephant ears live in?

Temperature and Humidity. Elephant ears are tropical plants that do best in circumstances that mimic their native habitat. They will be evergreen in USDA zones 10 to 11, but will likely die back to the ground in zones 8 to 9 to return in the spring.

Why do elephant ears droop?

Elephant ears droop if light, water, or fertilizer levels are off. Large leaves can also droop if they become too heavy, and you can remedy their weightiness with stakes to support the plants. Plants will also decline if temperatures are too cold for them.

What does it mean when a plant leaves are pale?

Often deformed, smaller, or pale leaves signify that your plant needs more nutrients, light, or water. Move your plant, provide more water, or provide fertilizer.

Overview

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Description

Distribution and habitat

Behavior and ecology

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