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People are just finding out how strong elephants really are after seeing one take down an entire tree
Featured Image Credit: Reddit/ u/Existing-Mark-2191

People are just finding out how strong elephants really are after seeing one take down an entire tree

The African Bush Elephant is the strongest animal on the planet

I think we all know that elephants are pretty darn strong, but some people are only just realizing how strong they actually are.

Depending on the type of elephant, the mammals can weigh as much as 6,000kg - and the African Bull elephant is said to be able to lift as much as 700lb with the help of their muscular trunks.

An elephant's trunk alone as over 150,000 muscles.

It's kind of hard to comprehend just how strong that actually is, but a video doing the rounds on Reddit portrays it perfectly.

In the clip, an elephant is seen eying up a tree. You'd probably expect it to snap a few large branches off it, but the mammal uses its strength to snap the trunk in half, bringing it toppling down.

"After seeing this I realized that it is more powerful than I imagined," the Redditor who posted the video wrote.

Thousands of others have echoed similar sentiments on the post that was been upvoted 70 times.

One person quipped: "I just realised that if I was chased by an elephant and climbed up to the top. I would still be f**ked."

Another jested: "Unhappy customer, looks like he was upset at the branch manager."

"Big engine, big power," another person went on.

Elephants are the strongest land animals in the world.
Reddit/BeAmazed

A different person penned: "At first I thought it was a rotten dead tree, but you can actually see leaves on it. Amazing strength!"

Elsewhere, another dubbed the clip as 'both amazing and a bit terrifying'.

Someone else went on to note that, while they knew the mammals were strong, this video really proved it.

"Got to say, it's obvious elephants are absurdly strong creatures, but this is quite a feat of strength even for them imo," they said.

"That is probably a fully grown tree, and think about how thick a bit of wood you could break easily with your hands. The elephant splintered the entire trunk, and it was completely chill doing so. Imagine the damage an angry elephant could do."

Elephants get nutrients from trees and their roots.
imageBROKER/Klaus-Peter Wolf/Getty Stock

As to why the elephant did this, another Redditor who lives in South Africa explained that they don't do it just for fun, but because they want its bark and other nutrients from it.

"South African here," Reddit user Russdad wrote.

"For those of you wondering, elephants often push down trees, in fact in game reserves here, you know where elephants have been because of the trees pushed down. They do it to get the bark and they often eat the roots (they are soft and packed with energy).

"Sometimes with smaller live trees they bend tgem down to get the fresher branches and leaves at the top."

You learn something new every day!

Topics: Animals, Nature, Reddit, Environment