{"id":9236,"date":"2019-08-09T15:45:17","date_gmt":"2019-08-09T14:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/?p=9236"},"modified":"2020-09-15T15:26:59","modified_gmt":"2020-09-15T14:26:59","slug":"elephants-why-we-love-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/2019\/08\/elephants-why-we-love-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Elephants &#8211; Why we Love Them"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the most distinguishable creatures on the planet, with huge floppy ears and long trunks, elephants are a favourite at Tucan Travel. The largest land mammal in the world, elephants are found across Asia and Africa usually in family herds. Keep reading for some fun facts about elephants!<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0Both African and Asian elephants are unfortunately extremely endangered, with poachers hunting them primarily for their ivory tusks. They\u2019re losing their habitats as human populations grow and are also at risk of being captured for circuses or other animal attractions for human entertainment. Captive elephants are forced to carry tourists on their backs or perform tricks all day long, as highly intelligent creatures, elephants demonstrate signs of psychological distress in these conditions. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>In the wild<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Elephants are wild animals, they can not be tamed, only tortured. Tucan Travel do not condone any sort of cruelty to animals and do not visit attractions or sites where <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/experiences\/wildlife-on-tour\">wildlife<\/a>, including elephants are mistreated. Instead we visit wild national parks and reserves where the money is put back into the protection of these incredible creatures.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"870\" height=\"654\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/elephant_day_kh.gif\" alt=\"International elephant day, animal day, animal gif, animal animation, travel animation, travel gif, elephant trunk, elephant vector, african savanna\" class=\"wp-image-9248\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In celebration of World Elephant Day on the 12th August, we have compiled some of our favourite facts .<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><b>Fun facts about elephants<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">1 &#8211; Elephants are empathetic and can tell when family members are upset. They have been known to help injured herd members and even mourn when one of them dies.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"870\" height=\"519\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/african-elephants.jpg\" alt=\"african elephants\" class=\"wp-image-9239\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/african-elephants.jpg 870w, https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/african-elephants-300x179.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/african-elephants-768x458.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 870px) 100vw, 870px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2 &#8211; You may have heard the phrase \u201cMemory like an elephant\u201d &#8211; elephants are known to have a fantastic long-term memory with the ability to remember different watering holes when droughts occur.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">3 &#8211; Although they are land mammals, elephants are really good swimmers. They love water, in fact, and can even use their trunks as snorkels.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">4 &#8211; Elephants live in family groups with a matriarchal leader. When male elephants reach maturity they leave the herd and tend to hang out in \u2018bachelor herds\u2019. Elephant herds can reach numbers as high as 100, that<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"870\" height=\"601\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/baby-elephant.jpg\" alt=\"baby elephant\" class=\"wp-image-9240\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/baby-elephant.jpg 870w, https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/baby-elephant-300x207.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/baby-elephant-768x531.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 870px) 100vw, 870px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">5- According to researchers, elephants are scared of bees. They are hoping this is a way farmers can deter elephants from approaching their farmland without resorting to human\/elephant conflict.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">6 &#8211; Elephants can\u2019t jump and are the only mammals that do not have this ability. However African elephants can run at speeds up to 25mph.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">7 &#8211; To protect themselves from sunburn, elephants throw sand on their backs.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">8 &#8211; Elephants have no predators apart from man. Occasionally lions try their luck with elephant calves however they are usually firmly protected by the herd.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">9 &#8211; Elephants use their tusks for many things, to forage for food, strip bark from trees, to attract mates or even fight off rivals. Like humans, elephants can be right or left-tusked and favour one side over the other. This explains why their tusks can appear uneven, the favoured side can be worn down faster.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"870\" height=\"530\" src=\"https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/elephant-with-kilimajaro-in-the-background.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9241\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/elephant-with-kilimajaro-in-the-background.jpg 870w, https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/elephant-with-kilimajaro-in-the-background-300x183.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/elephant-with-kilimajaro-in-the-background-768x468.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 870px) 100vw, 870px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">10 &#8211;&nbsp;<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Elephants form tight-knit social groups, grieve, display many signs of empathy and recognise themselves in mirrors. According to scientists, self-awareness when looking in a mirror, indicates that a being is \u2018conscious\u2019. Most animals will assume that the reflection is another animal. Elephants are distinguished, complex emotional and intelligent creatures, we should make sure we do what we can to protect them.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Looking to see elephants in the wild? Why not browse our tours in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/destinations\/africa\">Africa <\/a>or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tucan.travel\/destinations\/asia\">Asia <\/a>for your chance to visit these incredible mammals in responsible and sustainable nature reserves.<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the most distinguishable creatures on the planet, with huge floppy ears and long trunks, elephants are a favourite at Tucan Travel. The largest land mammal in the world, elephants are found across Asia and Africa usually in family herds. Keep reading for some fun facts about elephants! \u00a0Both African and Asian elephants are [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":9242,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v15.2.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Elephants - Why we Love Them - Tucan Travel Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In celebration of these beautiful creatures, we have put together a blog on all things elephant. 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