World Elephant Day 2022: World Elephant Day is observed on August 12 every year. Elephants are the largest mammals on Earth. The objective behind observing World Elephant Day is to recognise their importance in ecosystem.

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World Elephant Day 2022: Brief history 

World Elephant Day was first observed in 2012. Canadian filmmakers Patricia Sims and Michael Clark along with the Thailand-based Elephant Reintroduction Foundation observed this first. 

World Elephant Day 2022: Let's take a look at interesting facts about Jumbo

1. An elephant never forgets! The elephant's temporal lobe (the area of the brain associated with memory) is larger and denser than that of people. Therefore, elephants do not forget.

2. The African Savanna (Bush) elephant is the world's largest land animal – with adult males, or bull elephants, standing up to 3m high and weighing up to 6,000kg on average.

3. A baby elephant during the birth can weigh 120kg.

4. There are three species of elephant: African Savanna (Bush), African Forest and Asian. The difference between the three could be understood by their ears.

5. Trunks are the most sensitive organ found in any mammal. Elephants have around 150,000 muscle units in their trunk. Elephants use their trunks to suck up water to drink – it can contain up to 8 litres of water.

6. Elephant tusks continue growing throughout their lives.

7. They are enlarged incisor teeth which first appear when elephants are around 2 years old.

8. An elephant’s skin is 2.5cm thick in most places. The folds and wrinkles in their skin can retain up to 10 times more water than flat skin does, which helps to cool them down. They keep their skin clean and protect themselves from sunburn by taking regular dust and mud baths.

9. Elephants need to eat up to 150kg of food per day –although half of this may leave the body undigested.  Elephants eat so much that they can spend up to three-quarters of their day just eating.

10. Elephants communicate in a variety of ways - including sounds like trumpet calls (some sounds are too low for people to hear), body language, touch and scent. They can also communicate through seismic signals - sounds that create vibrations in the ground - which they may detect through their bones.