“An elephant – with its long trunk and impressive tusks – takes a stroll with a young calf.”
Elephants are the largest land animals in the world. Elephants have the longest pregnancy of any mammal, lasting up to 22 months.
The idiom an elephant in the room can be used to refer to an obvious problem or issue that people avoid talking about or even acknowledge. The idiom white elephant is used to describe a possession or project that is expensive to maintain and of little value or use. It is often used to describe something that is a burden or a waste of resources.
Humongous is a slang expression that can be used to describe something that is very big.
The WWF (World Wildlife Fund) do a lot of work to ensure elephants are a protected species. Read more about what they do here – and you can even consider adopting an elephant!
Related Elephant Vocabulary:
- Calf (noun): a young elephant.
- Gentle (adjective): having a kind and mild disposition.
- Gigantic (adjective): extremely large in size or extent.
- Herd (noun): a group of elephants.
- Hide (noun): the thick, leathery skin of an elephant.
- Trumpeting (verb): the act of making loud, low-pitched noises with the trunk.
- Trunk (noun): the long, flexible nose of an elephant, used for grasping and sucking up water.
- Tusks (noun): long, curved teeth protruding from the upper jaw of an elephant.
- Wrinkles (noun): the creases and folds in an elephant’s skin.
In the News
Spotted in the newsPadayappa: The friendly Indian elephant whose fame is a cursebbc.co.ukFrequently Asked Questions
An obvious problem everyone notices but avoids talking about.
A possession or project that costs a lot to maintain but has little real value.
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