Elephants are great swimmers – and luckily – they already have their own snorkel. So technically; elephants can swim underwater for as long as they want to?
How Long Can Elephants Swim Underwater?
Elephants aren’t known for their swimming skills – mainly because they are huge of course – but also as they live in some of the driest places on the planet. However, they are excellent swimmers indeed.
Not only can they swim for miles and miles if needed – but they can also do so totally underwater. Luckily for them they have a giant, hairy, free snorkel to use whenever they need to: their own trunk.
Although elephants can swim gracefully at the surface – they can’t keep their mouth above water the whole time – it has to be submerged. But, it doesn’t really matter if they are above or underneath the water – they can breathe the whole time without any issue either way.
So, if you wanted to set a time limit to it – you could say that elephants can actually swim underwater for as long as they want?
Having the ability to breathe easily while completely underwater means that they would only need to come up to the surface to eat – rather than through lack of air. Elephants often submerge themselves completely underwater in the heat of the day as a way to cool off – so they are used to using their trunks this way.
Why Do Elephants Need To Swim?
On a normal day – elephants don’t need to swim. Swimming isn’t something elephants aim to do all the time – however, they do love water. As you can see in the video above.
They need to drink 50 gallons of water a day according to the experts – so are heavily associated with water sources anyway. Laying down in them and splashing around in one of their favorite things to do to cool off – and there are many videos online showing them having great fun in the middle of rivers and lakes.
However, there are times when they do need to swim – usually because that is where they need to go. Elephants travel great distances looking for food and depending on their habitats and their preferred foods in different seasons – they come across water. In wetland locations in India and the flooded inland delta of the Okavango – water is everywhere. They have to cross both shallow and deep water all the time to get between areas.
Larger elephants can just walk around of course, but the smaller elephants and the calves will need to swim at times – just to keep up.
How Far Can Elephants Swim?
There is fossil evidence that elephants have traveled in deep water for well over 50km – maybe further – where they colonized new areas.
It is believed, for example, that elephants swam to Sri Lanka from the mainland, some 48km away. Other more modern examples are seen in great waterways in Africa, where herds travel across great rivers; and in Asia through wetlands.
In Malaysia and Indonesia – trained elephants are used to move products and people in shallow waters between islands, as well as for carrying tourists. They can easily swim for hours across calmer waters with ease. Their strong legs, natural buoyancy, and great stamina allow them to travel in water great distances without really having to try too hard.
Can Baby Elephants Swim?
Watching baby elephants playing in the water is adorable – as they can’t quite figure out what they are supposed to be doing with their tiny trunks. They end up waving them all over the place – often hitting themselves in the face. More than once!
They can see their elders squirting out water through their own trunks as well as submerging themselves entirely under the water – but can’t figure out how to do it themselves. Swimming doesn’t come naturally to a baby elephant. Even though they can easily do the ‘doggy paddle’ – for some reason, baby elephants just can’t seem to manage it – or don’t want to?
Usually, it takes a few good months of practice before a baby elephant is confident enough to really swim – even though it is something that is essential to the little ones when the adults take off to new pastures. Being the smallest in a crowd of giants means that everything is always too big and expectations are high. If the adults think this river is good to walk across, then the babies need to be swimming while the adults are only knee-deep.
The grown-ups always look out for the babies though – so they don’t get left behind.
