Elephants

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

Elephants can be found in Africa, India, and Asia.

These large animals travel in herds. This means they travel in a group.

The group's oldest or largest female member leads elephant herds. This makes elephants a matriarchal society. A female member leads this type of society in the group.

If you are a plant, you'd better watch out for elephants!

Elephants can eat hundreds of pounds of plants daily! The majority of an elephant's day is spent eating.

• Why do you think elephants eat so much?

Elephants spend most of their day eating because they need a lot of energy from food to have enough strength to move and go about their daily routine.

Generally, elephants have babies when they are around fifteen years old. Elephants only have one baby at a time.

They have a new baby every two to four years. Some elephants continue to have babies up until they are fifty years old!

Some elephants can live to be seventy years old!

Elephants have large trunks!

They can use their trunks to breathe, pick things up, hold on to them, and smell. They can hold water in their trunks but cannot drink through them.

You often see elephants spraying water to clean themselves, cool off, or have fun!

Elephants are among some of the smartest animals on the planet.

• Did you know elephants have a great memory?

They can tell the difference between human voices. If they hear a voice they remember as being hostile or dangerous, they will get ready to defend themselves or run away.

They can also use tools.

As you watch the video below, think about the tool the elephant is using.

• What is Suda the elephant doing?
• How is Suda doing it?

Elephants touch each other to communicate. For example, elephants greet each other by wrapping their trunks around each other.

These smart animals use their bodies to discipline the younger elephants, too! If you are a little elephant getting into trouble, your mother elephant might kick or shove you to tell you to stop!

• Elephants are amazing, aren't they?

Before moving on to the Got It? section, say out loud two interesting facts you learned about elephants.