ATLANTA — How much food and water do elephants consume in a day? What is its closest relative? Behold the power of its poop!
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Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants How much food and water do elephants consume in a day? What is its closest relative? Behold the power of its poop! (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Fernbank Museum of Natural History recently unveiled its newest exhibit: The Secret World of Elephants. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants “The big secret world is just how they communicate, how social they are, (and how they are) meeting up with other family groups,” Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Cara Martinez told WSB-TV’s Nelson Hicks. “There’s so much about elephants that we’re still learning, and all that learning just helps us understand it better, to make the world better for them and us.” (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants The temporary exhibit explores the evolution of elephants, how they function, their role in society and how we interact with them. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants In the United States, it’s unlikely you’ll ever encounter an elephant on your ride to school. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants But in other parts of the world... (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants “Elephants are just sort of a fact of daily life. In some cases, this could be a good thing, like making paths for people to walk on through forests,” Martinez noted. “In other cases, though, it can be detrimental. Kids are sometimes afraid to go to school because elephants are crossing in the road. They can’t get there.” (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Elephants drink about 50 gallons of water a day. You’d need to crack open and consume 528 soda cans’ worth of water every day to drink that much. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants When they aren’t drinking, they’re eating 200 to 500 pounds of food every day. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants And you know what that means...they poop a lot! (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants “We love poop here,” Martinez said. “We know that our guests love poop too. But elephant poop is extremely good for the environment. So we have elephant poop creating food for insects. The land there creates small microcosms of the ecosystem. Elephants are also forest creators. So when they eat all those nice veggies and fruits and poop out the seeds later, they’ve left it with good fertilizer in new areas. So they’ll actually help create forests by leaving behind their dung.” (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
“The big secret world is just how they communicate, how social they are, (and how they are) meeting up with other family groups,” Fernbank Museum of Natural History’s Cara Martinez told WSB-TV’s Nelson Hicks. “There’s so much about elephants that we’re still learning, and all that learning just helps us understand it better, to make the world better for them and us.”
The temporary exhibit explores the evolution of elephants, how they function, their role in society and how we interact with them.
In the United States, it’s unlikely you’ll ever encounter an elephant on your ride to school.
Discover The Secret World of Elephants at Fernbank Museum
“Elephants are just sort of a fact of daily life. In some cases, this could be a good thing, like making paths for people to walk on through forests,” Martinez noted. “In other cases, though, it can be detrimental. Kids are sometimes afraid to go to school because elephants are crossing in the road. They can’t get there.”
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Elephants drink about 50 gallons of water a day. You’d need to crack open and consume 528 soda cans’ worth of water every day to drink that much.
When they aren’t drinking, they’re eating 200 to 500 pounds of food every day.
And you know what that means...they poop a lot!
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
“We love poop here,” Martinez said. “We know that our guests love poop too. But elephant poop is extremely good for the environment. So we have elephant poop creating food for insects. The land there creates small microcosms of the ecosystem. Elephants are also forest creators. So when they eat all those nice veggies and fruits and poop out the seeds later, they’ve left it with good fertilizer in new areas. So they’ll actually help create forests by leaving behind their dung.”
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
Here’s something else that might surprise you: An elephant’s closest relatives include hyraxes—mammals that are typically one to two feet long and weigh four to 11 pounds—as well as manatees.
The exhibit concludes with a look at some famous elephants and money from around the world featuring the massive mammals.
Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants Here are some more photos from Fernbank Museum's The Secret World of Elephants exhibit. (Nelson Hicks)
“Elephants have long been seen as powerful, intelligent creatures, so they’ve been associated with strong leaders; they’ve been associated with royalty; they have been associated with warriors, and putting them on our money is kind of a way of showing that our government can be strong, things like that. It’s a very important symbol to those places, where they’re from,” Martinez said.
