Elephants are stronger than you think.
Almost everyone knows elephants are the largest land animals on Earth. A full-grown African bush elephant can be nearly 11 feet tall and weigh nearly eight short tons. They tower over every other animal living the wilds of Africa. It is the reason most other animals, even hippos and rhinos, give them a wide berth when they see an elephant coming.
Even knowing that, many people underestimate the speed and strength of these animals. An agitated bull elephant can deal out a great deal of damage if it desires.
For further proof that you do not want to be caught out in the African bush alone with a large elephant, just watch this video of a large bull destroying a tree. With relatively little effort, the bull breaks a rather large tree, sending it crashing to the ground to the amazement of nearby tourists.
That was impressive, and the efficiency was enough to make even the world's most talented lumberjacks jealous. Just think about the last time you tried to remove a set of roots from your yard. If you look closely, the elephant literally pushed the tree out by its roots. These animals are packed with muscle that will rival a bulldozer! See what we mean about not wanting to get caught out in the open with one?
Elephants do have some good reasons for pushing trees over. Often, the main reason they do it is simply because they want to eat the leaves or any fruit that may normally be out of reach. Remember that these animals can eat hundreds of pounds of food in a day. The pushing over of trees becomes especially important if it is the dry season and other food sources have been decimated.
Some bulls will also knock down trees simply to show off their strength and intimidate rivals. Because who wouldn't be intimidated after seeing something like this? One thing is for sure, we will never underestimate the strength of an elephant ever again.
For more outdoor content from Travis Smola, be sure to follow him on Twitter and check out his Geocaching and Outdoors with Travis YouTube channels.
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