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Did you know every zebra has its own pattern of stripes? They can tell each other apart because of this feature. Stripes also are valuable for the zebra because they
help blur the vision of predators which confuses them.
Zebras have great eyesight and a fantastic sense
of smell. Their eyes are on the side of their head so that zebras have a broader vision than most animals.
The can run up to 40 miles per hour.
Zebras usually live in small families of five to twenty led by a male zebra, called
a stallion, along with several females and their young. Zebras live in grassy plains or woodlands in Africa. They
can also be found on some mountain slopes up until around 14,000 feet. Zebras tend to live side by side with other animals such as wildebeest, kongoni, gazelles, oryx and other antelopes.
At birth, a zebra weighs about 70 pounds and can stand almost immediately. It can run within a day. They
are prey to lions and the spotted hyena. At
night, families gather together while one family member remains awake to look out for predators.
Did you know giraffes get most of the water they need from
the acacia leaves they eat? They can go two weeks without drinking water because of the liquid
they get from their food. Their black tongues are coated to protect them from the thorns of the acacia tree. Giraffes
have four stomachs like a cow!
Giraffes tower 14 to 20 feet in the air, and an adult one weighs 1500 to 2600 pounds. The
life span of this animal is usually around 10 years, but some have lived to be 27 years old.
They live in herds made up of two to fifty giraffes. Can you believe they only sleep twelve minutes
or less a day!
Did you know elephants sleep standing up?
The African elephant is the largest land animal in the world. Some male elephants grow
to be thirteen feet tall. Elephants weigh between ten and fourteen thousand pounds! Elephants smell, drink, eat, and
wash themselves with their long trunks. They use it much like a long hand, taking in as much as 3 gallons
of water at a time with their trunks to be sprayed into their mouths for drinking or thrown on their backs to bathe. The
trunk is amazing for its ability to pick up very small objects as well. They carry heavy objects with their tusks,
long teeth made of ivory.
Most elephants live on the grassy plains of Africa in herds. A herd
consists of several related females and their young. The group, which sometimes stays together for life, is usually
led by the oldest female. Males leave the herd at around age twelve, whereas female elephants usually stay with their
mothers all of their lives. Elephants travel in a single line with the young ones being led by an older
elephant's tail.
Elephants are great swimmers and can be seen rolling around in the
mud to dry off. They sometimes swim in ponds to cool off. They also can cool off by fanning their ears.
When an elephant fans their ears, it cools off the blood in its ears which travels to other parts of the elephant's
body and cools it off.
Elephants can run up to 24 miles per hour and fight with their tusks.
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