Alex&Savannah

African Animals media type="youtube" key="hWFp3SzG16U&hl=en" height="344" width="425"
Hello, My partner and I are going to be researching about African animals, the Elephant, the Girraffe and the Hippo. We'll be researching about what they eat, what they look like and how they live.

The hippo
We'll start with the Hippo, the Hippo lives in the south part of Africa, the hippopotamus needs to keep a diet and has to eat on aquatic plants, soft short grass and fruit that has fallen of trees near by. Sometimes the Hippopotamus will feast on a small or injured animals. The Hippopotamus weighs about [|8, 000 lb]. Even though vthe mammal is only a plant eater, it has big massive jaws with formidable tusks. The animal can bit through small boats and can slice a crocodile in two. The word hippopotamus comes from two Greek words meaning" River Horse". Hippos use all their time being lazy and lie in or near water. The hippo has been around for over 5 million years, they used to live in Europ, Asia, Africa and on the island of Madagascar, but now they can only be found in south part of Africa.



The Giraffe
Next, we'll talk about the [|Giraffe] .The giraffe is a friendly giant,they are the tallest land animals.The look:A giraffes neck can weigh up to [|600 pounds] ,there legs are 6 feet long all though the back legs look shorter,there not.I bet you can't guess how big the giraffe's heart is.Any guesses? Well,its 2 feet and 25 pounds!!! They also stylish blue tougues. The food:Giraffes eat all day,because when they bite the leaves of the tree they get only a few leaves.They eat about 75 pounds a day!!!There favorite tree is the [|Acacia tree]. Acacia leaves contain a lot of water, so giraffes can go a long time without drinking. When they do get thirsty, giraffes have to bend a long way down to drink from a lake or stream. When they're bent over, it is easier for a predator, like a crocodile, to grab hold of the giraffe. So, giraffes go to a watering hole together and take turns watching for predators. If water is easily available, like in zoos, they can drink 10 gallons a day. Keepers put the water buckets up high so the giraffes don't have to bend down to drink.

The elephant
Next,the huge 15000-8000 [|elephant] is up next.Even though there huge animals,there scared of bee's.They have large ears that are shaped like the continent of Africa, both males and females have visible tusks, their skin is very wrinkly, their backs are swayed, and the end of their trunk works as if they have two fingers there to help them pick things up.An elephant´s trunk, a union of the nose and upper lip, is a highly sensitive organ with over 100,000 muscle units. They can live up to 50 years.When the babies are born they weigh from 117-330 pounds at birth.They are 26- 42 inches at birth.At birth, a baby elephant, called a calf, may stand three feet tall. A calf is usually quite hairy with a long tail and a very short trunk. It uses its mouth to drink its mother's milk, so it doesn't need a long trunk to feed. Calves are clumsy at first with their trunks, but they learn to use them as they grow older.Elphants become mature around 13-20 years of age. Elephants' ears are a little like air conditioners. As elephants flap their wet ears on a hot day, the blood flowing through the many blood vessels there is cooled. This then cools their large bodies.Eating:Wild elephants eat all types of vegetation, from grass and fruit to leaves and bark—about [|220 to 440] pounds each day.The elephants also drink about 30 gallons (113.5 liters) of water each day.The skin:Pachyderm means "thick skin" and this term often refers to both elephants and hippopotamuses. An elephant's skin can be up to one inch (2.54 centimeters) thick on some parts of its body. Even though it's thick, an elephant's skin is also very sensitive. Elephants often [|spray] themselves with water, or roll in the mud or dust for protection from sun and biting insects. media type="custom" key="835719" width="198" height="141"

All this info was found from google and http://www.sandiegozoo.org/animalbytes/t-giraffe.html and http://www.sandiegozoo.org/animalbytes/t-elephant.html.