Scientists recognize three kinds of elephants. They are African savanna elephants, African forest elephants and Asian elephants. African elephants are the largest animals that live on land. They live on the savannas and in the rain forests of Africa. Asian elephants live in India and Southeast Asia. Savanna elephants have curving tusks. Forest elephants have straighter tusks. African elephants have big ears shaped a bit like the continent of Africa. Asian elephants have smaller ears.

An elephant trunk is a long nose that is also its upper lip. It is strong enough to lift a large tree trunk. It is gentle enough to pick up a single piece of straw. Besides grabbing, an elephant uses its trunk to smell, snorkel, spray dust, touch, sort things and make sounds. It does not drink through its trunk like a straw. It sucks water part of the way up. Then it curls the trunk toward its mouth and pours the water in.

Elephants have to stay cool. They flap their big ears to cool off on hot days. Blood flows through the many vessels in the ears. When an elephant flaps its ears, that blood cools down. That helps cool the whole body. Elephants also cover themselves with mud, dust or water. This protects their skin from the sun and from biting insects. Elephant skin can be up to about 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) thick in places. It is still sensitive to touch.

Let's look at how elephants sense the world and talk. Elephants make low rumbling sounds. Some of them are too low for people to hear. Other elephants can hear a rumble from more than 2 miles (3 kilometers) away. Smell and touch are very important senses for elephants. They reach out with the trunk to smell things. Elephants touch each other with their trunks to greet and to reassure one another.

A tusk is a long front tooth that keeps growing. Elephants use their tusks to dig for water and food. In the dry season, they dig up dry riverbeds and make watering holes. Many other animals can drink from these holes. Elephants eat plants. An adult can eat up to 300 pounds of food in one day. Elephant dung is full of seeds, which helps plants spread across the land. Elephants are a keystone species, which means they play a critical role in their ecosystem.

Elephants live in family groups called herds. An African elephant herd is led by an older female called the matriarch. An elephant mother carries her calf for about 22 months before it is born. A newborn elephant, called a calf, stands about 3 feet (1 meter) tall. Other members of the herd help look after calves. Adult male elephants, called bulls, tend to live alone or in small groups of other males.

Words to know

• keystone: a key kind
• tusk: long front tooth
• matriarch: lead female
• savanna: grassy land
• bulls: adult male elephants