African Animals: Elephants, Hippos and Rhinos

Elephants Did you know that you can tell if an elephant is "right-handed" or "left-handed"? One tusk is usually shorter than the other. The shorter tusk is the one the elephant uses most. A short right tusk means the elephant prefers the right side and is "right-handed".
Elephant orphans These baby elephants are orphans. They are being raised by humans at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust Elephant and Rhino Orphanage. They will stay here until they are about two years old, then they will move to another orphanage for older elephants and eventually they will learn to live in the wild again.
Basking hippos Hippopotamuses spend their days mostly in the water. At night they come onto land and graze. One night while we were sitting around the campfire we saw a large, dark figure coming towards us. We could hear grass being pulled out by its roots and munching sounds. It was a hippo. Two more followed slowly behind the first one and at one point they were as close as 20 metres away. Hippos are very big and can be dangerous, but these ones barely even took notice of us - they were too busy eating!
Black rhino We saw white and black rhinos while we were on safari. White rhinos are light grey. They are grazers (they eat grass), so they have a large, wide mouth. White rhinos are larger than black rhinos. Black rhinos are dark grey. They are browsers (they pick plants from bushes and grasses), so they have a pointed or hooked upper lip. Black rhinos have their babies follow behind them, while white rhinos keep their young in a safer position, in front of them and guide them with their horns.

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