Elephants are the world's largest land mammals. They live in Africa, Asia, and zoos around the world. Only male Asian elephants have big tusks. The difference between Asian elephants and African elephants is the African elephants have bigger ears.

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There were many different elephants that died out and there are only two kinds left today. These are some of the elephants ancestors:

• Phiomia
• Moeritherium
• Beinotherium
• Gomphotherium
• The Imperial Mammoth
• Stegodon Gapesa
• The Mammoth and the Mastodon

(The Mastodon lived in North America).

Did you know an elephant's tusks can grow 7" a year? Strangely enough there was an elephant with 4 tusks! But get this, there was also an elephant with 7 tusks! The largest elephant tusks weighed 235 pounds and 226 pounds (106.6 kg and 102.5 kg).

It takes 2 years for a baby elephant to grow inside its mother's womb. Elephant babies are very hairy when they are born. Elephants are very curious when they are born and want to investigate everything with their trunks, but the only problem is, they can't control it (their trunks). Baby elphants learn to control their trunks by trying to catch their cousin's tail.

-- Mark Richmond

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