SANParks Elephants

[RosemaryH]

A 1200kg elephant is capable of losing an average of 0.23 litres of water of water/m²/h despite the fact that the skin lacks sweat glands. This is an estimated 2.5 litres per hour.
The skin varies in thickness from paper thin behind and around the ears and mouth area to 2 - 3cm thick on its back and sides. The colour of the skin varies from dark to pale grey or brown, in rare instances, de-pigmented patches can be seen.
Taken from Kruger Legends Great Tuskers Of The Kruger National Park

[EElse]

The first four photos were taken by me with a smaller Res camera. The next four were taken by hubby, the res is a bit better.

Hope it helps!

[arks]

Thanks for the additional photos EElse. Rosemary is right about the hole below the notch in the ear, so it's not Bidzane

[RosemaryH]

Certainly does help thank you EElse

Sorry it's not Bidzane arks.

I've submitted your sighting EElse so will let you know if there is a monitoring file for him.

[manicwalker]

Rosemary...
Thanks for the elephant info...
its great to learn all these interesting facts, that make up one of the most amazing animals on the planet
Thats alot of water to loose, even for a BIG ellie!
Beautiful photo too...Thanks again

[RosemaryH]

manicwalker - The more I learn about elephants the more amazing I think they are

An elephant's heart looks and functions much like a humans heart. An elephant with a body mass of 5000 kilograms will have a heart of 25 kilograms or 0.5%of its total body mass. When standing or under normal feeding conditions their heart rate is around 50 beats per minute. When stressed or excited this rate can increase up to 90 or 100 beats per minute. Interestingly, an elephants heart rate will increase by 10 beats per minute when lying down. This is contrary to other mammals whose heart rate will decrease when lying on the ground.

Elephants are affected by heart diseases that often cause sudden mortalities. Alexander suffered this fate. He died as a result of the Picorna virus that is transmitted by rodents and that causes emcephalomyocarditis (EMC).
Taken from Kruger Legends Great Tuskers Of The Kruger National Park

[manicwalker]

Rosemary...
That is so interesting ... I had no idea their heart rate would actually increase when they lie down...
BUT thinking about it.... perhaps all that weight pressing around the heart would put extra pressure on same
I am so passionate about ellies, and I enjoy learning as much as possible about these amazing animals
Thank you again

[gbird]

We saw four biggish elephants on our recent trip.

The first is undoubtedly the same one seen by EElse above (same ear notch with cut/tear above)




The second I think is Ngwenya although I couldn't see his left ear to be certain. Would be rather nice as we saw him on our previous trip two years ago.




The third may be a bit small for a monitoring file



The fourth was quite far away and unfortunately walking away from us. he has a distinctive small "M" shaped notch in his right ear.




I will PM dates and locations to RosemaryH

[RosemaryH]

Thanks for the details gbird. I will submit your sightings and revert back asap

[impyim]

Saw this elephant on Addo webcam yesterday. Not sure if you can tell if it’s a tusker.

[RosemaryH]

Hi impyim looking at a previous shot of this ellie on the cam the tusks are still small.

[impyim]

Thanks Rosemary - such tatty ears & I thought it might have big tusks.

[MarulaMike]

[Meandering Mouse]

A very warm welcome, MarulaMike.

What an interesting picture.

[RosemaryH]

Amazing capture on the Punda Maria Webcam - Thank you Danie Pretorius for sharing it on the SANParks - Webcams FB Group