While many of us appreciate elephants year round, they are officially recognized on September 22nd , the perfect time to learn about them and do what we can to save these magnificent creatures from extinction.
Elephants live in a matriarchal society, meaning groups whose members are bound together by their female relatives. There are two species of elephant, African and Asian. While African elephants are larger (and can be identified by their ears which are larger and actually shaped like the continent of Africa) than Asian elephants, both species can live up to 70 years. There are some who believe that the African elephants found in the forests of Gabon, the DRC, and Ghana are actually a separate elephant species, and not just a subspecies of the African elephant typically found on the savannah. While both male and female African elephants grow tusks, only male Asian elephants do so. And if you look very closely you will notice that Asian elephants have just one lobe on their trunks for grasping objects while African elephants have two, one on the top and one on the bottom! Elephants are intelligent, intuitive, gregarious creatures who will defend their families and mourn their dead. Baby elephants stay with their mothers for the first 10 years of life and female elephants are pregnant for a whopping 22 months before giving birth! Hunted to near extinction for their tusks, Asian elephants are an endangered species; African elephants are considered threatened in their natural habitats as human encroachment and hunting have drastically affected their numbers as well.
Social media is a great way to share your love of elephants and support conservation efforts to save them and their native habitats. Here are our top 10 favorite IG accounts devoted to elephants:
For daily photos and videos of elephants and their adorable babies, follow these six accounts:
https://www.instagram.com/96elephants/
https://www.instagram.com/savetheelephants/
https://www.instagram.com/elephants.of.world/
https://www.instagram.com/elephantslovenature/
View this post on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/babyelephants9/
https://www.instagram.com/elephants_picturestv/
And to support conservation efforts of both African and Asian elephants, here are four accounts to follow:
https://www.instagram.com/elephantswithoutborders/
https://www.instagram.com/elephantconservationcenter/
https://www.instagram.com/mandalao_elephants/
https://www.instagram.com/stae_elephants/
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