Who is the elephant’s competition?

Human: In the 1970’s and the 1980’s one of the elephant’s completion was the human. Because some people would kill the elephants for their beautiful ivory tusks, to make things like jewelry. But today the government has made a stop to this and hunting elephants has gone down.

Lion: Lions eat lots of meat! They eat all sorts of different animals but hey, have you ever heard of a lion eating an elephant?! Well guess what lions are capable of taking down a full grown elephant! At first when lions started getting elephants they first went after the little baby elephants. Then when they realized what they could do they started to go after the big elephants.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFHqlj3DT1I

(Watch this and you can see an elephant vs 8 lions!)

Moth: A moth is a very small living thing. But apparently it is a elephants enemy! A certain type of moth called moth mabra antofilia likes to drink elephant tears. Because its gets most of its substance from its tears. And when the elephant is not crying enough the moth will go into the elephants eye and scratch at their eyes to make them cry more! So the moth might be happy but the elephant isn’t!

What is the elephants defense strategy?

Elephants have many different defense strategies here are some of them:

1. If you watch this video you can see what elephants do to protect the young. All the elephants surround the babies. They also pound their trunks one the ground as a sign to predators to go away and communicate with other elephants.

http://animal.discovery.com/videos/caught-in-the-moment-asian-elephant-defense.html

2. Elephants have a very strong trunk they are able to carry many heavy things. Elephants use their strong trunks to fight off predators.

What do elephants need to do to survive?

-Elephants are very big creatures so they need lots of space.

-Elephants do not eat meat they eat different types of fruits for example banana, vegetables like cabbage, they eat hay, and also acacia leaf fodder (from a tree), etc.

- They need lots of water so they can drink and bathe

- Usually need to travel a lot to get these things in order to survive

Bibliography:

"Elephant Habitat and Competition - Unit Study on Elephants." About Homeschool - Homeschooling Information and Homeschool Resources. Web. 01 Dec. 2011. .

"What Do Lions Eat – an Elephant?" The Personal Blog of Vivek Gite. Web. 01 Dec. 2011. .