Hi! I'm Fallon. I am 9 years old. I am glad you came to visit my zoo and garden today. There are a lot of neat things going on here right now. First, I have my Elephant Exhibit finished! Learn all about these giant mammals and then visit a few of my favorite links to learn an elephant-sized chunk of knowledge about MY favorite animal!
I have other animals here too, but some of them have gotten loose and I am trying to get them all back in the right places. They will be ready to visit soon.
I love animals, but I also love plants. I love to grow plants and look at plants and water plants...plants can smell good, be beautiful, and taste good, too. Plants are wonderful, and they don't get scared or scratch or bite or run away like some animals do! But they are not much fun as pets. Be sure to visit my gardens and I will tell you about the plants and flowers I am working with. If you are interested in plants that give us delicious food to eat, I have those, too.
Make yourself at home and have fun during your visit. If you need me, I can be reached at the address below. See you soon!
The other kind of elephants are called ASIAN ELEPHANTS. The Asian Elephants are a bit smaller than their African cousins. They grow to be about 20 feet long including their trunk. Even though they are a smaller elephant, they can have a longer tail, sometimes as long as 5 feet! That is almost as tall as my MOM!! Asian Elephants have only one little finger-like thing at the end of their trunk, and only the boys grow tusks.
When a Mama elephant is going to have a baby, it takes 22 months for the baby to be born. That is almost 2 YEARS! That's a long time to wait for a baby! And when the baby finally comes, it's a WHOPPER! It can weigh 250 pounds and be 3 feet tall! My little brother is 3 feet tall and he is 4 years old! That's a BIG BABY!!
Elephants are the biggest and strongest animals that live on land, but they are very gentle. They can walk as quietly as a whisper. If an elephant feels threatened or scared, though, you better stand back! It might make a loud warning trumpet sound through it's trunk and then charge off running as fast as 25 miles per hour! I would not want to be in the path of a charging elephant, would you?
It is no wonder that elephants get so big when you see all of the food they eat. Elephants don't eat hamburgers or french fries like you and me, and they can't order out for pizza, either. What they DO like to eat is leaves, branches, tree bark, grass, plants, fruit, and straw. They can eat 450 - 500 pounds of it every day! And they don't go grab a soda or a glass of Kool-Aid when they are thirsty, either, but they can drink 40 - 50 gallons of water every day!
Elephants use their long trunks to breath, smell, and pick up things and put them into their mouth. If they are taking a bath in a deep lake or water hole they can use their trunk like a snorkle. If they want to take a shower they can suck up about 5 gallons of water and spray it on their head and back. If an elephant had 5 gallons of water in his trunk and sprayed it at you, you would be soaking wet!
Some bad people called "poachers" kill the wild elephants for their ivory tusks. They sell the tusks for a lot of money to people who have the tusks cut up, carved, and polished to make beautiful statues and jewelry. People pay a lot of money to buy things made out of ivory, but an elephant paid its life so that someone could make those things. When I first saw things made from ivory I thought that they were beautiful, but since I have learned the true facts about where ivory comes from and how they get it, it just is not as pretty anymore. If these poachers keep killing the elephants, they will soon become endangered. "Endangered" means that there aren't very many of them left in the world. I would be very sad if all of the elephants were gone.
I think that elephants are cute and funny. What do you think about elephants? Would you like to learn more about them and see some pictures? If you do, then try out one of these great links! Just click on the name and it will take you there. Remember to come back and see me again.
Other Places You Might Like To Visit
Back to the Hallway of L.I.F.E.
Library of L.I.F.E.
