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Mary Dooley, age 11, of Allentown, Pa., for her question:

HOW THICK IS AN ELEPHANT'S SKIN?

Big Jumbo is called a pachyderm, a fancy term which means thick skin. Certainly his rough, slate gray skin is thicker than most animal skins. As a rule, an animal has the sort of skin that is most suited to his natural surroundings. But for reasons unknown, an elephant has skin problems in warm climates and also in cool climates.

The average thickness of an elephant's skin is about one inch. The extra sensitive skin on the underside of his amazing trunk is somewhat thinner. One would expect such a thick skin to be very sturdy, able to withstand wear and tear and all sorts of changeable weather conditions.

But, sad to say, this is not so. Actually, it is very sensitive to dry heat and also to cold conditions, dry or damp. The poor fellow suffers dry skin problems which make his whole body very uncomfortable. In chilly climates, the cold seems to penetrate his inch thick skin and cause painful cramps in his mighty muscles.

As a rule, the Indian elephant lives fairly near a river. There he goes during the heat of the day to soak his big body in the water. Now and then, he uses his trunk to spray showers on his head and back. During the dry season, the river may run dry. Then he wallows in the mud. Before he leaves, he plasters more mud on himself to keep his skin as moist as possible.

The African elephant may live out on the hot plains, often far from a supply of bath water. What's more, there may be a shortage of shady trees to protect himself from the hot, drying sun. However, his trunk is a very sensitive sniffer. He smells the ground until he locates a supply of moisture below the surface. Then he uses one of his mighty tusks to burrow down. When he unearths a pocket of soggy mud, he uses his trunk to splatter it over his body.

Often an elephant comes to a cooler climate to live in a zoo or work in a circus. There his thick sensitive skin may suffer even more discomfort. During a cold dry spell, his stiff muscles may need help. Sometimes his keeper may give him a bucketful of strong drink, which seems to ease his cramps. But no matter where he lives, his thick, moisture loving skin is always a problem.

 

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