Unfortunately, real elephants, unlike Disney's Dumbo, cannot fly by flapping their ears. But one thing is true: their ears are really big. Portal popsci.com speakwhy and why do elephants need them.
Elephants are the world's largest land animal. Although their size allows them to fend off predators and reach high foliage, they also have difficulty staying cool. An elephant's huge body generates a lot of internal heat, even when it's just standing still. And the fact that elephants live in warm regions makes the problem worse – the risk of heat stroke is higher.
Humans cool themselves by dissipating heat through long, narrow parts of the body, such as the legs and arms. But elephants have large bodies and thick legs, so there is relatively little skin surface to radiate heat. Additionally, elephants, unlike humans, do not actually sweat. They have some sweat glands, but they are mainly located between the toes; this is not enough for effective cooling. They also cannot pant like dogs.
For this reason, elephants have developed other cooling mechanisms. Their ears act as extremely effective heat sinks thanks to their large surface area containing thousands of tiny blood vessels. Whenever elephants pump blood to their ears, they force the blood to move through these vessels, helping the blood cool to outside temperature. And cooled blood will circulate throughout the animal's body, helping to maintain normal body temperature.
Ear flapping also helps dissipate heat; This is how elephants increase the air supply for ships and boats. Computer models show that, in fact, elephants lose most of their heat through their ears – huge radiators that can be used more actively or passively depending on the weather, activity and time of day.
This cooling strategy even influenced the evolution of elephants. Thus, African elephants have the largest ears of any species because they live in the hottest regions, while Asian elephants have smaller ears – they do not get too hot under the canopy of trees in the forest.
Elephants also need ears to communicate. They can assume a variety of positions to signal the animal's emotional state or intentions. For example, when they perceive a threat, they often place their ears at a 90-degree angle to their body to appear larger and provide a warning sign. And in social situations, ear movements can indicate joy, anxiety or dominance, while also helping to coordinate group behavior. For example, elephants who have not seen a loved one for a long time may flap their ears quickly when seen again after a separation – as a sign of a pleasant greeting.
Finally, elephant ears are very sensitive to sound, especially in the low frequency range. Although elephants can make many sounds that humans can hear, most of their communication occurs at frequencies too low for us to hear. Such sounds have very long waves, so trees and vegetation do not hinder their propagation. Therefore, elephants can hear signals at a distance of more than 10 km and find their source quite keenly.
