Top 15 elephant fun facts

Check out our awesome range of elephant facts for kids with Top 15 elephant fun facts

1. Elephants have no natural predators. However, lions will sometimes prey on young or weak elephants in the wild.
2. The main risk to elephants is from humans through poaching and changes to their habitat.
3. The street value of elephant ivory is now greater than gold, running to tens of thousands of pounds per tusk.
4. One of the most interesting types of Elephant is the African elephant. It has the scientific name of Loxodonta africana of Africa. The look of this animal is different with the Asian African elephants.
5. More than 20,000 African elephants were slaughtered in 2013, according to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
6. The Kenya Wildlife Service has documented the killing of 97 elephants so far this year.
7. But according to Dr. Paula Kahumbu, who leads the Hands Off Our Elephants campaign, elephant poaching in Kenya is at least 10 times the official figure.
8. The animal is considered as the four legged herbivorous mammal that has grey color with large body size. There are two fingers located oat the tips of the trunk. The ears come in fan shape.
9. Poachers in Kenya have enjoyed lenient sentences and few have been successfully prosecuted.
10. A study by WildlifeDirect found that over the past five years just 4% of those convicted of wildlife crimes were sent to jail.
11. New legislation passed earlier this year that should lead to higher conviction rates and tougher sentences.
12. The global ivory trade was worth an estimated $1 billion over the past decade, with 80% of ivory from illegally killed elephants.
13. We need to call the elephant with the right name. If you want to call a baby elephant, use the word a calf. The adult female is called as a cow, while a bold is used to call an adult male elephant. A herd is used to call a group of some elephants.
14. The total global elephant population is currently estimated at 650,000, and they are very much in danger of extinction.
15. Organisations working to protect elephants include Born Free, Save the Elephants, Space for Giants, and Tsavo Trust (The trust protects the land where Satao lived, and they need all the help they can get. Please consider donating.)

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