It is a long standing belief that the elephants keep their body cool by making use of their large sized ears. The fact is that these huge land mammals use hot spots, which are scattered all over their body to regulate their body temperature. They have very thick hides and these do not have sweat glands. Apart from their ears, elephants make use of bathing in water bodies to cool themselves in hot climatic conditions.

There are a total of 15 hot spots as found by researchers that assist them in losing body heat. They can dissipate their heat by directing greater amount of blood close to the surface of these spots.

These elephants usually inhabit the lands of Africa and Asia. These continents have places with scorching heat conditions as well. It is rather hard to believe that these large-framed heavy weight mammals can withstand such temperature. The thick hide protects them from the spiny trees and bushes. But lack of sweat gland in them unlike other mammals can seem disadvantageous.

Many biologists believed that these animals in their adult stage can weigh up to 12 tons and they have evolved big ears over a long period of time in order to help them in keeping their body cool. The skin in the ears of elephants is less thick than the rest of the body and the blood supply in these areas will be increased in order to dissipate heat from the body. It was research work published in the Journal of Thermal Biology by researchers from Vienna which established the fact that blood supply to hot spots was the main cause for regulating body temperature, in elephants. In this regard, the researchers took images at the Vienna Zoo of 6 African elephants when they were in outdoors as well as indoors. The images brought out that changes in surrounding temperature affected the temperature of their skin.

Furthermore, elephants use other techniques like covering themselves in mud packs for protection against heat. The wrinkles of their thick hides hold the mud for better protection. The fanning action of their ears assists in air circulation around them.

These large mammals can control the constriction and dilation of their blood vessels reaching their ears. When the temperature is hot, the blood vessels dilate causing more blood flow to the vascular ears and faster dissipation of heat.

After a dip in water, the elephants keep cool for a while due to the presence of water in the folds of their skin which evaporate rather slowly.

More Articles :

• How Do Elephants Keep Cool ?
• How Fast Can An Elephant Run ?
• What Do Elephants Eat ?
• When Is An Elephant Full Grown ?
• Why Do Elephants Have Big Ears ?

All-Informationz: Know About Elephants
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