Why do elephants have big ears?

No, it’s not “because Noddy won’t pay the ransom” (which is a joke you will not get unless you are British anyway).  There are two main reasons why their ears are so large and the first is around, you guessed it, hearing.  Elephants can often be a long way from each other in the wild and they, like some other mammals that could be mentioned, like to know what is going on around them. When they want to tune in to something that is happening a distance away they turn towards the sound.  Then, they open their ears wide and this helps “catch” the sound.

Image Credit Flickr User Arno & Louise Wildlife

Another reason is to cool itself down.  The ears naturally have a very large surface area - and they don't always have a swimming pool nearby. When an elephant feels itself getting too hot it pumps blood in to its ears.  There are lots of vessels in the ears, because of their size and so a lot of blood can be pumped in to them at once.  Then the elephant waggles its ears and the blood cools down.  Result, we have an elephant that isn’t going to get overheated.