Hyraxes are one of the closest living relatives of elephants (along with manatees and dugongs) #EleFunFactFriday #TheMoreYouKnow 💫 🧪
A 126,000-year-old butt-drag just made fossil history.
A tiny rock hyrax scooted across the sand of ancient South Africa, and that moment was preserved in stone.
Even the smallest acts can echo through time.
🧪 #SciComm
buff.ly/dcGWTR4
A tiny rock hyrax scooted across the sand of ancient South Africa, and that moment was preserved in stone.
Even the smallest acts can echo through time.
🧪 #SciComm
buff.ly/dcGWTR4
The 126,000-Year-Old Butt-Drag That Rewrote What Counts as a Fossil
How a small animal’s odd habit turned into one of the most unexpected stories ever preserved in stone Some discoveries make headlines because they’re dramatic: new...
climateages.com
October 10, 2025 at 11:29 PM
Hyraxes are one of the closest living relatives of elephants (along with manatees and dugongs) #EleFunFactFriday #TheMoreYouKnow 💫 🧪
Belated #EleFunFactFriday, we are just so lucky to have them; let’s not wreck it up…
a group of birds are standing in a field with a white bird .
ALT: a group of birds are standing in a field with a white bird .
media.tenor.com
October 4, 2025 at 10:36 PM
Belated #EleFunFactFriday, we are just so lucky to have them; let’s not wreck it up…
Elephants societies “may derive significant benefits from the influence of an older leader because of their enhanced ability to make crucial decisions about predatory threat[s]” 🐘🦣
#EleFunFactFriday
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
#EleFunFactFriday
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
Leadership in elephants: the adaptive value of age
The value of age is well recognized in human societies, where older individuals often emerge as leaders in tasks requiring specialized knowledge, but what part do such individuals play in other social...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
September 26, 2025 at 9:11 PM
Elephants societies “may derive significant benefits from the influence of an older leader because of their enhanced ability to make crucial decisions about predatory threat[s]” 🐘🦣
#EleFunFactFriday
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
#EleFunFactFriday
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
Elephants have complex societies, in which “social disruption can inhibit or break potential pathways of information transmission”. Once historical memory is lost is it replaced by generational trauma, causing adverse health outcomes as in humans‽ 🐘🦣
#EleFunFactFriday
doi.org/10.1098/rstb...
#EleFunFactFriday
doi.org/10.1098/rstb...
Knowledge transmission, culture and the consequences of social disruption in wild elephants | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Cultural knowledge is widely presumed to be important for elephants. In all three
elephant species, individuals tend to congregate around older conspecifics, creating
opportunities for social transmis...
doi.org
September 26, 2025 at 2:47 PM
Elephants have complex societies, in which “social disruption can inhibit or break potential pathways of information transmission”. Once historical memory is lost is it replaced by generational trauma, causing adverse health outcomes as in humans‽ 🐘🦣
#EleFunFactFriday
doi.org/10.1098/rstb...
#EleFunFactFriday
doi.org/10.1098/rstb...
Intense ivory poaching has led to the evolution of tusklessness in some African elephant populations, which might reduce poaching, but also happens to be an X-chromosome–linked dominant trait that is lethal to males #EleFunFactFriday #TheMoreYouKnow 💫 🧪 🐘
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Ivory poaching and the rapid evolution of tusklessness in African elephants
Intensive ivory poaching during a period of civil conflict caused the rapid evolution of tusklessness in an African elephant population.
www.science.org
September 19, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Intense ivory poaching has led to the evolution of tusklessness in some African elephant populations, which might reduce poaching, but also happens to be an X-chromosome–linked dominant trait that is lethal to males #EleFunFactFriday #TheMoreYouKnow 💫 🧪 🐘
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#EleFunFactFriday, the critically endangered African Forest Elephant lives in a mutualistic relationship with ebony, in which elephant dung protects ebony seeds against seed predators...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Declines of ebony and ivory are inextricably linked in an African rainforest
Loss of critically endangered forest elephants reduce the regeneration of a threatened species of ebony tree.
www.science.org
August 29, 2025 at 2:22 PM
#EleFunFactFriday, the critically endangered African Forest Elephant lives in a mutualistic relationship with ebony, in which elephant dung protects ebony seeds against seed predators...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Did you know that elephants can hear with their feet!
#EleFunFactFriday
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC....
#EleFunFactFriday
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC....
The distribution, density and three-dimensional histomorphology of Pacinian corpuscles in the foot of the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) and their potential role in seismic communication
Both Asian (Elephas maximus) and African (Loxodonta africana) elephants produce low-frequency, high-amplitude rumbles that travel well through the ground as seismic waves, and field studies have shown...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
August 22, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Did you know that elephants can hear with their feet!
#EleFunFactFriday
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC....
#EleFunFactFriday
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC....
#EleFunFactFriday there were many species of mammoths, not just woolly ones; but the woolly ones went extinct most recently #ExtinctionIsForever 🦣 🐘 🥶 🧊 ❄️
www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/wer...
www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/wer...
Were all mammoths woolly? | Natural History Museum
Woolly mammoths are ice age icons, but did you know there were actually lots of species of mammoths? Get to know the mammoth family, where and when they lived and how hairy they were.
www.nhm.ac.uk
August 15, 2025 at 10:19 PM
#EleFunFactFriday there were many species of mammoths, not just woolly ones; but the woolly ones went extinct most recently #ExtinctionIsForever 🦣 🐘 🥶 🧊 ❄️
www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/wer...
www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/wer...
Once upon a time there were only 2 species of elephants, African and Asian. Genetic studies in 2010 revealed that “African” elephants were really two different species, which diverged about the same time as the human and chimp lineages split #EleFunFactFriday
www.york.ac.uk/news-and-eve...
www.york.ac.uk/news-and-eve...
Wildly different – Africa's two elephant species - News and events, University of York
www.york.ac.uk
July 18, 2025 at 8:42 PM
Once upon a time there were only 2 species of elephants, African and Asian. Genetic studies in 2010 revealed that “African” elephants were really two different species, which diverged about the same time as the human and chimp lineages split #EleFunFactFriday
www.york.ac.uk/news-and-eve...
www.york.ac.uk/news-and-eve...
Just in time for #EleFunFactFriday! 🧪 🥶🦣
Excited to share our new paper on mammoths: doi.org/10.1016/j.qe...! I was only involved near the end of this ~9 year project (science takes time sometimes 😅) with sampling being done in 2015 by Eline and Ashot, and Alba having done most of the heavy lifting, but happy to have contributed 😄 Thread 👇
December 20, 2024 at 1:14 AM
Just in time for #EleFunFactFriday! 🧪 🥶🦣
And I have just found #EleFunFactFriday fir 🐘
November 23, 2024 at 12:05 AM
And I have just found #EleFunFactFriday fir 🐘
#EleFunFactFriday remarkable response to poaching edition – elephants evolve tusklessness in response to poaching! 🧪 🐘 🦷 🧬
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
a man wearing glasses says " life uh " in front of a lamp
ALT: a man wearing glasses says " life uh " in front of a lamp
media.tenor.com
November 22, 2024 at 9:43 PM
#EleFunFactFriday remarkable response to poaching edition – elephants evolve tusklessness in response to poaching! 🧪 🐘 🦷 🧬
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
#EleFunFactFriday Elephants live in complex matriarchal societies in which the eldest female guys, the troop to complex and often in dangerous situations because of her experience and wealth of knowledge; she has a little truck with blustery males, interfering with her or her troop.
three elephants are silhouetted against the sunset sky
ALT: three elephants are silhouetted against the sunset sky
media.tenor.com
November 8, 2024 at 3:32 PM
#EleFunFactFriday Elephants live in complex matriarchal societies in which the eldest female guys, the troop to complex and often in dangerous situations because of her experience and wealth of knowledge; she has a little truck with blustery males, interfering with her or her troop.
#EleFunFactFriday Manatees are the other closest living relatives of elephants...
a manatee is swimming in a tank with a blue background
ALT: a manatee is swimming in a tank with a blue background
media.tenor.com
November 1, 2024 at 5:02 PM
#EleFunFactFriday Manatees are the other closest living relatives of elephants...
#EleFunFactFriday Hyraxes are one of the closest living relatives of elephants, don’t believe me? Ask them to say cheese
a close up of a furry animal with the words headlikeanorange written below it
ALT: a close up of a furry animal with the words headlikeanorange written below it
media.tenor.com
November 1, 2024 at 4:56 PM
#EleFunFactFriday Hyraxes are one of the closest living relatives of elephants, don’t believe me? Ask them to say cheese
The Elephant genome encodes more olfactory receptors than any other mammal! #EleFunFactFriday
genome.cshlp.org/content/earl...
genome.cshlp.org/content/earl...
genome.cshlp.org
October 18, 2024 at 9:16 PM
The Elephant genome encodes more olfactory receptors than any other mammal! #EleFunFactFriday
genome.cshlp.org/content/earl...
genome.cshlp.org/content/earl...
The Colossal BioSci elephant iPSC preprint has been updated twice in a week, with each update I’m less and less convinced they have derived iPSC #EleFunFactFriday
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Derivation of elephant induced pluripotent stem cells
bioRxiv - the preprint server for biology, operated by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, a research and educational institution
www.biorxiv.org
March 15, 2024 at 7:55 PM
The Colossal BioSci elephant iPSC preprint has been updated twice in a week, with each update I’m less and less convinced they have derived iPSC #EleFunFactFriday
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...