African elephant | Loxodonta africana
The largest land mammal on Earth. In the past, elephants were spread all over Africa, today you only find them from Sudan to South Africa. They live in savannas, bush steppes, forests, wetlands and mountain slopes. It is amazing how sensitively and skillfully an African elephant can handle its trunk: it is easy for it to pick up objects. At the same time the trunk is also the smell and touch organ. Look closely, it can be turned in all directions, stretched and rolled up. The elephant regulates its body temperature on hot days by waving its huge ears and cooling the many blood vessels that run through them. When the elephant spreads its ears to the side, it increases the surface of its body by four to five square meters, which is one-sixth of its total surface area. If it also moves the ears back and forth, it accelerates the heat dissipation significantly over the whole body. Elephants are quickly afflicted by mosquitoes and parasites. Therefore, they protect themselves through a regular mud, sand and water shower. Most of the animals are covered with a dry layer of mud, which protects them against the constant sunlight.
