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It’s once again EleFact Friday and this week we’re revisiting gorgeous elephant eyelashes. Elephant lashes serve many of the same purposes as human eyelashes, but they are longer and therefore more protective of the eye. Not only do elephants hold the record for largest land mammal, but they also have the title of animal with the longest lashes, which can grow up to 5 inches. Eyelashes that grow that length help protect the animals from dust and debris, or from sand getting in the eyes. 

In addition to the upper and lower eyelids, elephants have a third eyelid (like those of cats and dogs) which moves vertically across the eye; it acts as protection when feeding and foraging, dusting, and bathing. Elephants in the wild or in natural habitats need this additional protection, since they are constantly wandering in search of food and covering themselves with dust and dirt – one thing we humans rarely need to do (but perhaps we should, just for fun).

Photo of Guillermina waiting at the fence to bat her lovely lashes