World Elephant Day is observed every year on the 12th of August. It’s a holiday dedicated to raising public awareness about the challenges these majestic animals face. Elephants have been facing serious population declines over the past several decades due to habitat loss and poaching, and they are now listed as critically endangered.

If solutions aren’t enacted quickly, then there’s the real possibility of elephants being wiped off the face of the Earth. And if that happened, it would be entirely the fault of humans. That is something that can’t be denied. That’s why it’s important for all of us to think about the elephants and do what we can for their continued survival.

The History of World Elephant Day

World Elephant Day is a holiday that hasn’t been around for a long time. It was originally created in 2012 with the release of the film “Return to the Forest” — a movie about the reintroduction of Asian elephants to the wild, narrated by William Shatner.

This holiday has been observed ever since as a vehicle to raise public awareness about the perils faced by both Asian and African elephants in the world. Global climate change, deforestation, and poaching have wreaked havoc on native elephant populations.

Today, there are fewer than 450,000 elephants left in the world. While that might seem like a large number, the fact of the matter is that this is only a fraction of what used to exist. And elephant populations will continue to fall until proactive measures are adopted to protect them now and into the future.

Some Interesting Facts About Elephants

We didn’t want to leave this article about World Elephant Day without listing some factual information about elephants that our readers can use as a jumping-off point for further research. We found out quite a few things about these beautiful animals, some of which we’re sharing below.

We hope that the following factoids prove to be useful and will encourage people to do additional research on these animals. With that said, let’s take a quick look at the following facts before moving on to how World Elephant Day is observed.

• The African Bush Elephant is the world’s largest land animal. They can weigh up to 6,000 kilograms on average.
• There are three distinct species of elephants: the African Bush Elephant, the African Forest Elephant, and the Asian Elephant.
• Elephants have over 150,000 muscles in their trunk.
• The wrinkled skin of an elephant is approximately 2.5 centimeters thick and can retain up to 10 times more water than flat skin can.
• Elephants have to eat approximately 150 kilograms of food every day to survive.

Observing World Elephant Day

We encourage everyone around the world to take action to protect elephants in whatever way possible. And there are several ways that people can observe this holiday. They can participate in campaigns to save elephants around the world, they can donate to organizations that help elephants, or they can educate themselves about elephants and the measures being taken to protect them. We encourage everyone observing this holiday to spread the word about it online using the hashtag #WorldElephantDay.