An African elephant's ear can be as tall as a door on a fridge — bigger than you! But those giant ears are not just for hearing.
They are a clever built-in cooling machine. Let's find out how. Tap Next to begin! 👉
Elephants live in hot, sunny places like Africa. Their bodies make a lot of heat when they walk all day. Too much heat is dangerous — so they need a way to cool down.
Tap the answer you think is best:
Think about a hot bowl of soup. If you pour it into a wide, flat plate, it cools down much faster than in a tall cup. Why? More of it touches the air.
Elephant ears are big and flat, like plates. This gives lots of surface for heat to leave the body into the air.
Try it: drag the slider to unfold the ear and watch the heat float away.
Look closely and you can see blood vessels — tiny pipes — spread all over the ear, close to the skin. Warm blood from the body flows through them.
As the blood passes through the thin ear, its heat leaks out into the air. Cooler blood then flows back into the body. It's like the ear is a radiator! ❄️
Tap the 4 glowing spots to follow the warm blood as it cools on its journey through the ear:
On a very hot day, elephants flap their ears back and forth. This waves cool air over the blood vessels — just like fanning yourself with your hand or a paper fan.
The moving air carries the heat away even faster. Clever!
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Animals in hotter homes usually have bigger ears to lose heat. Animals in cold homes have small ears, so they keep heat in and stay warm.
Drag each animal into the right home:
Elephant ears help cool the body in a few ways. Tap the choice that is NOT one of them:
Elephants have big ears to stay cool in their hot homes. Here's everything you discovered: