# 50 The African Elephant

What is the largest animal that lives on land? You most likely said, "The elephant." You are correct. (In the animal kingdom, only the whale is larger.) There are two kinds of elephants. First is the African elephant. The second is the Asian or Indian elephant. They are related. But they look different. The African elephant is bigger. Its ears are about four feet wide. Its tusks are about six to eight feet long. Our interest is with the African elephant.

An African male is about 11½ feet at the shoulder. It weighs from 12,000 to 14,000 pounds. The largest ever measured stood 13 feet 2 inches tall.

The elephant has thick skin. It's about one inch thick. It's heavy. The skin alone weighs about a ton. Yet it is tender. The bite of a horsefly will draw blood. Elephants like to smear mud and clay over themselves. This protects their skin from bites by flies.

The elephant's trunk is about six feet long. It weighs about 300 pounds. The elephant uses the trunk in many ways. It smells, drinks, and feeds itself with its trunk.

The tusks (about six feet long) are really teeth. Only two thirds of each tusk stick out. The rest is in the skull. Tusks are used to dig for food. They are also used to fight. When trained, elephants can lift as much as a ton with their tusks. The molars (the grinding teeth) are about a foot long. Elephants have four molars. Each weighs eight to nine pounds.

The mother elephant gives birth after 20 to 22 months. At birth, the baby weighs about 200 pounds. It is already about three feet tall. It drinks its mother's milk until it is three or four years old.

# 50 非洲象

生活在陸地上的最大動物是什麼？你很可能說：「大象。」你是對的。（在動物界中，只有鯨魚更大。）大象有兩種。第一種是非洲象。第二種是亞洲象或印度象。牠們是相關的。但看起來不同。非洲象更大。牠的耳朵大約四英尺寬。象牙大約六到八英尺長。我們感興趣的是非洲象。

一頭非洲雄象肩高約11.5英尺。體重從12,000到14,000磅不等。有記錄以來最大的站立時高13英尺2英寸。

大象有厚厚的皮膚。厚約一英寸。很重。僅皮膚就重約一噸。然而它很嬌嫩。馬蠅的叮咬會導致流血。大象喜歡把泥巴和黏土塗抹在自己身上。這可以保護牠們的皮膚免受蒼蠅叮咬。

大象的鼻子約六英尺長。重約300磅。大象以多種方式使用鼻子。牠用鼻子聞、喝水和進食。

象牙（約六英尺長）實際上是牙齒。每根象牙只有三分之二露在外面。其餘部分在頭骨內。象牙用來挖掘食物。也用來打架。經過訓練，大象可以用象牙舉起一噸重的東西。臼齒（研磨牙齒）約一英尺長。大象有四顆臼齒。每顆重八到九磅。

母象懷孕20到22個月後生產。出生時，幼象重約200磅。已經約三英尺高。牠喝母奶直到三、四歲。