Pachyderms are a group of large, thick-skinned mammals including elephants, rhinoceroses, and hippopotamuses. The word “pachyderm” comes from the Greek words pachys (παχύς) meaning “thick”, and derma (δέρμα) meaning “skin”. Pachyderms have either one or two horns on their head and they are herbivores with a diet that consists mostly of plants.
Pachyderms are found in Africa, Asia, and North America. African elephants are the largest living land animals and weigh up to six metric tons. They have grey skin and their body is covered in hair which is more sparse on their trunk, face, ears, and underbellies. Asian elephants are slightly smaller than African elephants weighing up to five metric tons. They have darker skin tones ranging from reddish-brown to grey and their body is also covered in hair but it is more dense than that of African elephants. Indian elephants have the longest tusks out of all three subspecies. Sri Lankan elephants are the smallest subspecies weighing up to four metric tons.
There are two types of rhinoceros: black rhinos and white rhinos. Both types of rhino are native to Africa where they graze on grasses. White rhinos can weigh between 1-2 metric tons while black rhinos only weigh around 800-900 kilograms. White rhinos get their name from the Dutch word “weit” meaning wide referring to its wide mouth used for grazing whereas black rhinos get their name from the Afrikaans word “swart” meaning dark referring to the colour of its mud-covered body caused by wallowing in mud pits which protects them from getting sunburned or bitten by insects.
The third type of pachyderm is the hippopotamus which means “river horse” in Greek . They weight between 1-2 metric tons and like other pachyderms, they too are herbivores with a diet consisting mostly of plants however they spend most of their time submerged in water or mud due to their poor sweat glands which causes them to overheat easily . Hippos secrete an oily red substance called blood sweat which acts as a natural sunscreen as well as a defence against biting insects .