“Steemit Engagement Challenge S11-W1- The Animals (Mascot)"

Animals have long been associated with humans. Humans have learned to live with them by domestication. We have learnt a lot from them to the extent that we use them in various aspect of life to identify various characteristics.

Even organizations refer to certain strengths of theirs by symbolizing it with an animal. Even in the holy books and other literary pieces, we read of the strength of a lion, sharp sight of an eagle, the cautiousness of a serpent and the innocence of a dove. These are qualities admired by all which are present in these animals.

What is the type of your animal (pets/wild animals, etc.)

Like I said earlier, some of these animals might be domesticated or wild. However, the one I always like to refer to is the Elephant.

Currently, The Elephant can be said to be the largest land animal. They are strong, sturdy and very intelligent. Their life span is between 60 to 70 years. The males become full grown mature males between the ages of 35 to 40 years. They are a social family type of animals living in groups. It is usually made up of large females kown as cows.

They have sturdy bodies, very thick trunks, flapping ears and tusks. They also have a great sense of smell even more than humans and dogs. These wonderful parts of their bodies enables them to perform unique activities to many peoples amazement.

These big mammals can be found in Asia, Africa and some parts of the Americas. They live in the savannahs, rain forest and the tropical forest.

Tell us information about the animal.

Like I stated earlier, Elephants can be seen in the Savannahs. The adult males weigh upto 6000kg and have a height of about 3m. One thing to note is that, not only the adults are this big, even the new Borns weigh as mush as 120kg at birth. This is really massive.

Their trunks perform wonderful tasks. Having about 150000 muscle units, it is the most sensitive organ ever known in mammals. These trunks are used for drinking water by sucking it up and acts like a snorkel when swimming.

The tusks are actually enlarged teeth that appear when when the baby is 2yrs old and grows throughout their life.

The tusks helps them to feed, digging up roots, removing the bark of a tree and used as an instrument of defense when fighting. However, possession of these beautiful part of their body have endangered the elephants. This is because, the tusks is made up of ivory and ivory is in high demand. So poachers are also looking for these elephants to gun down.

Their means of communication is also very unique. They make trumpet call, uses body language, touch and scent. Sometimes too, they communicate by making sounds through vibrations which other elephants understand through their bones.

Another wonderful quality of an elephant is that it never forgets. This is because of the part of its brain responsible for memory. It is bigger and denser than that of humans. Hmm, if I continue to talk about elephants and their built, encyclopedia would be written at once, haha.

Are these animals also found in other countries?

Apart from my country Nigeria where Elephants can be seen in Yankari game reserve and many in the forest, they could be seen in other parts of Africa like Tanzania, Kenya, Botswana, South Africa, etc.

In Asian lands, they could be seen in Bangladesh, China, India, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, etc

They can be seen in few places in the Americas.

What is the animal mascot used for (sports club, country, etc)

Elephants are used or symbolizes great strength, stature, courage and wisdom. Because it distinguishes itself from others, officers in the Eastern part of the world are usually decorated with its icon to distinguish them from others. It is usually it's head and tusks that are mostly seen in various coat of arms of cities and nations.

For instance, Aba is called Enyimba city which is attached to the resilience, strength and courage the city have.

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The football club of the Aba city is also named after the Elephant; Enyimba football club meaning The peoples Elephant.

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There are other countries that also make use of it like Republic of Ivory Coast. It can be seen on their coat of arms.

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Another country that elephant can be seen in its coat of arms is Eswatini, the elephant there signifying protection and strength.

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There are other countries too that make use of Elephants as there mascots like

° The Republic of Congo

° The Central African Republic

° The Emblem of Kerala

° The Coat of arms of the London Borough of Camden

Mention its characteristics and philosophy so that it becomes a mascot.

Elephants are used as a mascot due to certain traits it possesses.

Its keen sense of hearing makes it a worthy animal to be used as mascot. It can hear sound from great distances.

They also have deep family bonds. They care a lot about their families and they respect the hierarchy too. Infact the females are known to stay with their mothers throughout their lives.

Elephants are known to be caring and very sensitive. When a little one cries out, the herd comes around and show affection by touching it with their trunks. They are also very intelligent. They are among the few animals that can recognize themselves in the mirror.

They also mourn their dead. When one of them in the herd dies, the entire herd pauses and mourns for sometime before they continue on their journey. They are really caring.

Conclusion

Elephant's characteristics and positive traits makes it a unique animal to be used for mascots. No wonder they are seen in so many nation's coat of arms and other organization logo.

A careful study of this great animal will definitely give insight int the wisdom of it's maker.

I hereby invite @patjewell @irawandedy and @stef1 to take part in this contest

Good luck to everyone taking part!