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An African bush elephant in Amboseli National Park, Kenya

Wild African elephants may have domesticated themselves

3 April 2023

African savannah elephants play, care for their young and show social behaviours associated with domestic animals, despite never being domesticated by humans


Asian Elephant

Elephant’s trunk may be one of most sensitive body parts of any animal

20 January 2022

The bundle of nerves that controls the elephant’s trunk contains 400,000 neurons – a lot more than we expected – suggesting the trunk is incredibly sensitive


elephant

Young male elephants rein in aggression if older males are nearby

22 December 2021

Young male elephants will sometimes attack humans or other animals, but seem less likely to do so if they are in the company of older males


Do you speak elephant? With this new dictionary you will

Do you speak elephant? With this new dictionary you will

3 November 2021

An ambitious directory of elephant behaviours and vocalisations offers amazing insights into their minds and culture – and could help save these magnificent beasts from extinction


An elephant raising its trunk over its head as someone rides it

57 per cent of elephants at Thai tourist facilities have nervous tics

28 September 2021

An investigation of elephants at 20 Thai tourist facilities show that more than half of the captive animals show repetitive behaviour like swaying or head bobbing, which may be signs of anxiety or boredom


Ground with fossilised footprint

Prehistoric elephant nursery probably made easy prey for Neanderthals

16 September 2021

Fossil footprints reveal that the extinct straight-tusked elephant raised its young with groups of adult females and no adult males, just as modern elephants do – and that they were probably hunted by Neanderthals


elephant

Elephant trunks suck up water at speeds of 540 kilometres per hour

1 June 2021

Elephants use extreme suction to hold water and food in their trunks, often inhaling at speeds that are nearly 30 times the speed we exhale air when we sneeze


elephants

Ivory Coast’s elephant populations are now in catastrophic decline

14 October 2020

Named for its elephants, Ivory Coast once had one of the largest elephant populations in West Africa. Now there are just hundreds left


elephant

There is an answer to the world's deadliest human-elephant conflict

16 October 2019

Sri Lanka has the world's highest rate of human-elephant conflict – last year alone, it killed 70 people and 300 elephants. A simple solution can make all the difference, if people are willing to try it


forest elephants

African elephant poaching is falling at last - but it's still too high

28 May 2019

The number of African elephants being killed by poachers has fallen to below 15,000 per year, which is still too high for populations to have a future


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