The elephant is the largest and, in some ways, the most powerful of all land animals. It is also among the most intelligent animals in the world. A fully-grown elephant may stand 4 meters high and weigh about 6 metric tons. It does not take long to learn to do many kinds of work or to do a lot of circus tricks.

An interesting feature about an elephant is its tusks which are two of its upper teeth that have grown on the outside and become enlarged. A tame elephant uses its tusks to support heavy loads which it carries, but wild elephants use theirs as effective weapons of attack. Tusks are made of ivory, a highly valuable material. Ivory is carved into artistic objects and is; used to top piano keys. Because of their highly prized tusks which weigh about 24 kilograms each, wild elephants attract ivory hunters.

An even more remarkable feature about the elephant it its trunk. The trunk which serves as an arm and a hand for picking up objects is actually the elephant’s lengthened nose and upper lip. It is thick and well protected on the outside but has tender inside. The elephant feeds itself by picking up twigs and leaves with its trunk; it also uses the trunk to shift the food to its mouth.

There are two kinds of elephants-the Indian elephant and the African elephant. Of the two, the Indian elephant is the smaller; it averages about 2.75 meters in height and some 3.5 metric tons in weight. The African bush elephant averages 3.5 meters and weighs about 5 metric tons; it is also darker than the Indian elephant. Two other differences are also remarkable: one, the Indian elephant is more easily tamed or trained, Secondly, it sleeps lying down whereas the African elephant sleeps upright.