Big Al Essay

Big Al is the mascot of the University of Alabama (UA) Crimson Tide, in Tuscaloosa, AL. Big Al is an elephant, they say in 1930 when UA’s first football team was entering the stadium a fan yelled “hold your horses, the elephants are coming” and has stuck with them ever since. UA went on to win the Championship that year. In 1980 there was a vote on campus and Big Al stayed the mascot and received the name “Big Al”. That same year the mascot was first brought out on to the field as an elephant costume. Elephants ancestors have been traced back to 38 million years ago (MYA), known as a Palaeomastodon. Elephants are mammals classified as Taxonomy. Elephants are pachyderms, which range from 9.8 to 13.1 feet tall and reach over seven tons. There are two types of elephants known to use today the Asian elephant, and African elephant. The African elephant is the larger of the two and is also sub classed into the African forest elephant and …show more content…
The Savannah elephant lives in the grass lands of Africa where there are many trees, but the trees canopy does not close like the rainforest and the average temperature is 68-86 degrees Fahrenheit year round. The Average rain fall per year is 10-30 inches per year. The African forest elephant lives solely in the rainforest where the canopy of the trees is closed and rarely allows sunlight through. The average temperature ranges from 70-98 degrees Fahrenheit, with rain fall averaging 50-250 inches per year. The Asian elephant lives in the forest and rainforests of Southeast Asia, Nepal and India. The average temperature averages 74-97 degrees Fahrenheit and receives 50-100 inches per year. Elephants are herbivores and their diet ranges from grass, leaves, bamboo, roots. They also eat crops from farmers such as bananas and sugar cane. Adult elephants eat on average 300-400 pounds (lbs) of food per day. For baby elephants the herd helps feed them and they eat on average 50-100