Elephants are large quadrupedal mammals native to Africa and India. The elephant is noted for its long trunk, or probiscus, a flexible nose strong enough to lift objects.
Elephants are not mentioned directly in the Bible. They were created on the sixth day with the other beasts of the earth (Genesis 1:24-25) and survived the Flood on Noah's Ark (Genesis 7:7-8). The Apocryphal book 1 Maccabees mentions thirty-two elephants sent by the Persian king Antiochus to attack Judas Machabeus. Numerous references are made to ivory, a substance created from their tusks and worth great amounts.
In more recent times, domestic elephants have been used for riding, carrying heavy loads, and war elephants.
Centuries of hunting elephants for their ivory has dwindled the population of these animals. Renewed efforts at stewardship have caused a population boom, with the number of elephants in Africa alone tripling in the last decade.
An elephant is the symbol of the Republican Party.