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· Food and intestines: The approximately 250kg food eaten every day passes through 18m of intestines. Eventually processed into about 100kg of elephant dung per day. Gee whiz, 250 kg of food a day, i.e. only 90 kg more than I weigh!

· Digestion: Elephants only digest about 40% of what they eat, and therefore, they need to spend two-thirds of every day eating. Sounds like me, the two-thirds of every day spending eating.

· Gas: An elephant 'releases' 2000 litres of methane gas per day! Sounds like the guy that slept next to our tent in Tamboti a few year's ago.

Here is a an easy one, how can you tell if an elephant is right or left handed ?

Should actually ask "left or right tusked"

Look at the tusks. The one that is used most will show whether it is a left- or right-tusked elephant.

Well done Bishop

yah I forgot ellies dont have hands..haha

you are IT

OOPS! Didn't see you've made it an RV... Thought it's more a QM one...

Let's see... Don't know too much...

From looking at a track, how can one determine the approximate size of the elephant?

Maybe he's saying you made it too easy

I'll have a bash anyway, I seem to recall on the Mabelingwe website something like for a male multiply the length of the hind foot by 5.8 times and the female by 5.5 times to give you the shoulder height. I also seem to recall something like multiply the circumference of the foot by 2.5 or 3 (can't remember the exact multiplier) to get the shoulder height - that would be for Loxodonta africana not cyclotis

Great topic and very interesting facts!

To all of you!

Hi Bishop,

I have read that if you measure the lenght of the front foot and multiply it 4 times you will more or less get the lenght of the front legs.....thats all I know some help would be handy

TimePilot, yes, you did as did Ranger Grant (finally!)

I have it that you take the circumference of the front foot and multiply it by 2.5 to get the approximate height at the shoulder. Don't know the specifics of the one of the diamater, although that does give an indication as well.

Timepilot, you're IT

Hi Guys

Thanks for your answers. But is it not a question of common sense? Don't want to be funny, but is it not a case of the bigger the foot print, the bigger the elephant, i.e. the higher the shoulders? Or is not always as simple?

Yes it is, but what is "big" and what is "small"? This is something that comes from hunting. It is not a foolproof method, but a small-bodied elephant will not easily carry heavy ivory, so you don't even follow them. But the big brutes are more likely to do so. Just helps to not follow spoor unneccessarily. And this is/was a rule-of-thumb, and an experienced elephant tracker will know whether it is a big elephant or not. A newbie will not, and needs all the help he/she can get.

Your common sense answer is not wrong, but the x 2.5 formula has been shown to be very accurate.

Timepilot!

I just want to add to this a bit. Spoke to Gregor Woods, hunting editor of MAN/Magnum this morning. Very experienced hunter of many years, respected all over the world in hunting circles.

He's actually of the opinion that it is 2x the circumference of the front foot that'll give the approximate shoulder height. Remember that the definition and condition of the track, which includes the type of ground it is made in, will determine the measurement.

He also mentioned something again which I had forgotten, as is the real reason I come back to this. This measurement is only a guide, and one of the most important factors is also where you're finding yourself. The Namibian desert elephant are actually known to have longer legs than say the Kruger, or eastern part of the subcontinent, elephants have. So an elephant from that area will be standing higher than one from Kruger with the same size track.

Interesting tidbit I thought I'd share in relation to the quiz question.


In terms of this quiz. Do we really need one specific on elephants? We've got the Mammal one, as well as the two (multiple-choice and who's-line-is-it-anyway) general quizzes. Information needed to be shared should be shared over on the mammals forum anyway. Just wondering...

When the members think that it has been exhausted ... it will go to sleep.

A very specific Quiz usually has a very short life ... and that is OK!

Must I make it an Open Quiz?

Great additional info!, Bishop3006