Elephants are the largest land animal and can live up to 70 years. There are two species of elephants, the African Elephant and Asian Elephant. They have tusks made of ivory, a long nose called a trunk and large ears with great hearing. Elephants live in grassland and forested areas.
An elephant's trunk has over 100,000 muscles! Elephants can pick up anything from a small piece of fruit to a fallen tree with their trunk. Elephants drink water by sucking it up their trunk and then spraying it into their mouth. They also use their trunks to communicate, eat, smell, touch, scratch, and shower.
Female elephants live in herds and they help each other care for their babies. Young elephants are taught their manners, such as holding out their trunks to greet other elephants, by the older elephants. At 15 or 16 years old, young male (bull) elephants, leave the herd to live on their own. The young female (cow) elephants remain with the herd.
Elephants eat only plants, grass, and fruit. They can even peel their own bananas. Elephants do not like peanuts! Elephants spend most of their day getting food and water. They only sleep about 2 hours a day, staying on their feet while they rest. They also spend time swimming and visiting with other elephants.
Elephants can communicate with sounds so low that humans cannot hear them. They have also been heard to cry, squeak, trumpet, purr, growl, and rumble. They use these sounds to express their feelings such as happiness, anger, and fear.
Elephants help sustain the world they live in. They dig water holes other animals can use. When they poop, they spread seeds and fertilizer so more plants and trees can grow. When they walk through the forest or grass on their big feet, they stir up insects and mice for birds to eat. Elephants are threatened by hunters seeking their ivory tusks and also by loss of their habitat. As humans move into elephant habitat to live and farm, the elephant herds are left with fewer places for the food and water they need. This can cause conflict between the humans and the elephants. Many groups are working to stop ivory poachers and loss of habitat in order to help preserve this interesting and important animal.
Bald eagles lives near water to hunt for their favorite food - fish. They are found from Alaska down to Mexico.
The bald eagle is the national bird of the United States. The number of bald eagles drastically decreased due to pesticide use, habitat loss, and hunting, and it was placed on the endangered species list in the late 1960s. After measures were taken to protect the bald eagle and other similar species, their numbers rebounded and they were delisted in 2007.
Bald eagles can fly up to speeds of 70 mph and dive up to 99 mph.
There are five species of rhinos in the world today, and all are endangered or threatened in some way. Three species are found in Asia and two are located in Africa. Thousands of years ago, rhinos were found in North America and Europe.
The black rhino and the white rhino live in Africa. The black rhino is critically endangered. The white rhino is the most abundant of the rhino species, but it is still threatened.
Rhinos can live in the wild for 30-35 years. They are herbivorous (plant eaters) and are some of the largest land mammals on earth. Some people believe the horns have healing properties and eat the ground up horns.
Rhinos are endangered mostly because of poaching for their horns. Their horns are made from keratin- the same protein found in our hair and fingernails.
