1001 wonders: Why elephants can release 500 liters of sweat per day?

In warm weather, elephants can lose up to 10% of their body water in just one day, according to a study.

That equates to 500 liters of water. This is the highest daily loss of water of any terrestrial animal. Elephants lose more water when the weather is hot Elephants are inherently endangered, dehydration from hot weather can lead to lower birth rates, loss of milk to young elephants and death from dehydration. Elephants drink hundreds of liters of water per day, but it is not clear how climate change will change their water needs as of now. So in the new study, researchers led by conservation biologist Corinne Kendall looked at five African savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana) at the North Carolina Zoo. Over the course of three years, the team fed the elephants six times with deuterium – a heavier version of hydrogen, harmless, water-soluble and traceable back in the liquid the elephant was released. The scientists routinely took blood samples for 10 days after feeding the elephants with deuterium to see the remaining amount each time, thereby calculating the rate of excretion in the elephant’s body. The results were “staggering,” Kendall said. At cool temperatures (between 6 ° C and 14 ° C), males lose an average of 325 liters of water per day. But at about 24 ° C they lose an average of 427 liters, and sometimes go up to 516 liters, the team wrote in the Royal Society Open Science. 400 to 500 liters of such water is equivalent to 10% of the total water in the elephant’s body – or up to 7.5% of the body mass. One elephant lost nearly 9% of its body mass in just one day, says Rebecca Rimbach, an ecological biophysiologist at Duke University. However, because elephants continuously replenish lost fluids through drinking, eating, and metabolism, the elephant’s actual daily water loss is lower. In general, elephants must drink water at least every two to three days to avoid “dangerously high levels of dehydration,” Rimbach said. Worryingly, as global temperatures get higher and higher, elephants will need to drink more water. But also due to rising temperatures, water scarcity, water holes dry up, and water-rich plants become more difficult to find. Study co-author Erin Ivory, behavioralist at the North Carolina Zoo, said this double effect could also exacerbate conflict between wild elephants and human populations, when elephants attack the season. membrane or destroy groundwater infrastructure, violent confrontations that can be fatal for both humans and elephants. And the elephants that not everyone knows On average, the ear sizes of an African elephant and an Asian elephant are very different. The African elephant’s ear is three times larger than the Asian elephant’s. African elephants tend to use their long ears for reasons such as signaling or protecting others. Females spend their entire lives with their families including mothers, grandmothers, aunts, sisters and daughters, an adult female elephant often leading the party. Adult male elephants prefer to live a single life. Both African and Asian elephants use their ears as a conditioner to regulate their body temperature. The elephant’s tusks are mainly from … incisors An elephant’s tusks grow from their front teeth throughout their lives. The tusks of an adult elephant can grow 7 inches (17cm) per year. Ivory was used to find salt, water and plant roots, remove bushes, clear paths and were sometimes used in combat. In addition, they are also used to mark trees to establish an elephant’s territory. Despite having large ears, the hearing of an elephant is very poor. They can live up to 70 years. Their spout has no bones. More than 150,000 muscles and nerves provide their hose flexibility. Additionally, an elephant fills its hose up to 5 liters of water and then pours it into its mouth to drink. The elephant listens with its feet and ears. This large mammal can drink up to 80 gallons of water in a day.