Elephants

The largest land animal is existence gets the full rundown in Elephants, starting with their fascinating evolution from pig-like mammals into the colossal creatures we know and love today. Pictorials takes kids through their unique anatomy – from the tips of their sensitive trunks down to the their giant toes, which they walk on – not unlike supersized ballerinas. Find out why gravity and heat are the two biggest threats to elephants, and about their gargantuan dietary requirements: How would you like it if you had to spend 19 hours each day finding and eating 300 pounds of vegetation and small insects? Then take a closer look at the elephant’s family tree – and find out why the herd’s ruling matriarch often forces teen males to strike out on their own.

Next, explore the many ways these fierce fighters sense and react to danger, and learn all about elephants’ quickly vanishing habitats and the efforts being made to protect them and their priceless tusks. Elephants in lore and myth are also covered in detail, as well as the many jobs performed by elephants who have human keepers, from circus stars to lumberjacks. Also in this issue: Discover why people always say “an elephant never forgets” and how their native intelligence can foil their most menacing predator – man.