Jay Schreffler, age 12, of Montoursville, Pa., for his question:
How thick is an elephant's skin?
The first time you see an elephant, you find it hard to believe that an animal can be so big. He is the largest animal on four feet in the whole world. He has the largest teeth and the thickest skin of any animal. Once in a while, a bull elephant may go on a furious rampage and become one of the most dangerous animals in the world.. But, as a rule, Jumbo is a gentle character, hard working and very intelligent.
The elephant, as everyone knows, is a pachyderm which means a thick skinned one. His grayish hide seems too big for his enormous body, for it hangs around him in baggy wrinkles. A large Indian elephant may weigh six tons. His giant tusks, which are really a pair of upper teeth, may weigh 80 to 100 pounds each. When the entire leathery hide is removed from his body, it weighs perhaps a ton, which is a sixth of his total weight.
Over most of his body, the skin of the pachyderm is about one inch thick. It is also very strong and pliable. The underside of the trunk is lined with thinner and far more sensitive skin. Jumbo is careful to keep this part of his skin out of trouble, and he Often 90es around with his trunk curled under his chin.
You might think that skin one inch thick would feel very little pain. But this is not so. The bite of a fly can draw blood, and Jumbo feels pain from the sma7lest scratch. He has his own method for treating these small wounds. Off he lumbers to the water, where he plasters his sore Spots with a layer of mud. This medical treatment may work well for elephants, but it is not recommended for the treatment of human sore spots.
The elephant's thick skin, you might think, would also keep out the cold. But this is not so, either. The big fe1low is very sensitive to cold, and when the temperature drops below freezing, he gets frost bite. In, chilly weather, he tends to catch colds and an elephant with a cold in his nose is quite a problem. Jumbo, after all, is a native of the warm tropics, and his thick skin is no protection against winter weather.
Jumbo is a mammal.. Though he has no furry coat to protect his skin, he doeb have a few hairs. They are small, stiff bristles hidden among the folds and wrinkles of his skin, and they are about one inch apart.
In India, the elephant is a highly trained work animal. As a rule, he and his trainer grow up together. The training takes about 10 years, and the elephant is ready for light chores when he is about 19 years old. He loves the water, and every day his trainer scrubs his huge body and rubs his gleaming tusks with sand. Chances are. Jumbo then squirts a layer of mud over his pachyderm hide.