Elephants are also covered sparsely with bristle-hair. Babies have more hair at birth. Elephants are usually gray in color, but sometimes they appear reddish or brown, due to wallowing in mudholes. Elephants enjoy a good bath every day and this is usually followed by a trip to the mudhole. They cover themselves with mud to protect themselves from the sun and insects.
Elephants are social animals with strong family ties.
They usually live in herds with mothers and calves, run by a matriarch. The matriarch is usually related to everyone in the herd. Males live in bachelor herds from puberty through adulthood. They will briefly join a female herd for breeding. Elephants are so closely bonded that they have been seen grieving over the death of a herd mate.