n help to increase the surface area of the elephant, which helps in cooling, and mud and water are also trapped under the wrinkles, further helping the elephant to keep cool. The elephant has four molars on each side of its mouth. The molars of adult elephants are the size of bricks. There They get six new sets of molars in a lifetime. They get their last set when they are about 45 years old, and after those fall out the elephant will starve to death. Elephants are highly intelligent animals. They have very large and well-developed brains and excellent memories. Elephants have strange habits and ways of communication. One means of communication is trumpeting. They have different tones of trumpeting which indicate different moods, such as playfulness and excitement. Trumpeting is also used to frighten off attackers. Their most important way to communicate is what is called stomach rumbles although the sound actually comes from its throat. Scientists have found fifteen types of rumbles indicating different things. One rumble means for the herd to move on, loud rumbles are used to greet family members and other rumbles help them locate each other. Scientists even think that elephants communicate long-distance with these rumbles, which are infrasound, low frequency waves which travel many miles. Elephants can hear and produce low notes in the region of 14-16 Hz, well below the range of the human ear. Elephants often communicate a lot when they are grieving over the death of a family member. Because the family is so important, young elephants are very upset when others die. Elephants have been known to bury their dead with twigs and leaves and stay by the graves for many hours. In 1930 there were five to ten million elephants in Africa but because of poaching and some natural disasters (fires, droughts) their numbers were reduced to about 1.3 million by 1976 and to about 600,000 now. The African elephant was really threatened by hunters and ...
