By the way, I strongly recommend seeing the movie "Water for Elephants."
5. For both African and Asian elephants, PREGNANCY lasts about 22 months. Because of gestation and lactation time, a female elephant may have only six offspring her entire life.
6. DANGER!!-- Sexually mature males go through periodic states known as musth, in which they produce high levels of testosterone. They are extremely dangerous and aggressive during this time and secrete a foul-smelling liquid from a gland behind their eyes.
7. A horrific example of ANIMAL CRUELTY occurred in Erwin, Tennessee, in 1916. A trainer with a traveling circus was killed by a five-ton elephant named Mary, Circus owners were afraid other towns might cancel the show so they took Mary to a rail yard and hanged her by the neck from a crane in front of 2,500 spectators, many of them children.
The first attempt failed when Mary's weight snapped a chain, causing her to fall and break her hip. A second attempt succeeded. She was buried in a grave dug by a steam shovel.
Look up "Mary elephant" in Wikipedia for more information and a photo of the hanging.
Got Peanuts? --Cooter
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