African Elephant
African elephants are the largest land animals on Earth. They are slightly larger than their Asian cousins and can be identified by their larger ears that (23)_____ a bit like the continent of Africa.
Elephant ears (24)_____ heat to help keep these large animals cool, but sometimes the African heat is too much. Elephants are fond of water and enjoy (25)_____ by sucking water into their trunks and spraying it all (26)_____ themselves. Afterwards, they often spray their skin with a protective coating of dust.
An elephant’s trunk is (27)_____ a long nose used for smelling, breathing, trumpeting, drinking, and also for (28)_____ things — especially a potential meal. The trunk alone (29)______ about 100,000 different muscles.
Both male and female African elephants have tusks they use to (30)_____ food and water and strip bark from trees. Males use the tusks to battle one another, but the ivory has also attracted violence of a far more dangerous sort.
Because ivory is so (31)______ to some humans, many elephants have been killed for their tusks. This trade is illegal today, but it has not been completely eliminated, and some African elephant populations remain (32)______ .
