Chapter 5: Drinking Water in Arctic Winter

The remains of the woolly mammoth they have found in the Far North, up to 80°N, on the islands of Severnaya Zemlya (Northland), north of Taimyr Peninsula. They have also recovered them on the New Siberian Islands, in Alaska and northwestern Canada, up to the arctic coast. In what kind of a climate has this elephant lived up there? Would this pachyderm have found up there during the long arctic winter enough to eat and to drink?

Andrei V. Sher, Paleontological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, in Moscow, wrote to me on 11 November 1980: "This year I tried to work out a kind of model of tundra-steppe climate of N.-E. Siberia that was typical for the Late Pleistocene flourishing of mammoth, horse, and bison. ... According to these estimations based on different evidence including paleocryological, the winter temperature (T°) was much lower than in present-day tundra and even lower than at the Siberian poles of frost (Verkhoyansk and Oymyakon). The mean T° of the coldest months could reach –70°C. Correspondingly, the mean annual temperature could also be much lower than now – near –20°C. But mean July T° could be rather high. While in present-day tundra it is lower than 7-10°C, in the Late Pleistocene tundra-steppe it is supposed to be about 15°C. Total precipitation was as low as now in Verkhoyansk (about 150 mm), but especially low was the depth of snow cover (no more than 20-25 cm in average). ... The growing season was probably slightly shorter than now."

Boris Yurtsev, Botanical Institute in St. Petersburg, Russian Academy of Sciences, explained to me in his letter of 24 January 1981, about N.-E. Siberia’s former tundra-steppe climate: "The exact calculation of climatical parameter for the period is hardly possible. But the paleontological and biogeographical data available suggest an extremely dry continental climate, with enormously cold and long winters with little snow, scanty precipitation (less than 100 mm per year), a short growing season (perhaps 2-3 months long), with the mean July t° not much exceeding or somewhat lower than 10 centigrades (down to 6-8 centigrades within the exposed polar shelf), with a combination of enormously deep permafrost, thickest ice wedges with the active layer deep enough by mid July – early August (though not as deep as to prevent the regular growth of ice wedges)."

Professor (em.) H. Flohn, Meteorological Institute at the University of Bonn, West Germany, wrote to me on 2 May 1980 about the late Pleistocene climate of northeastern Siberia and Alaska: "In newest time, a new opinion is stepping into the front, which, however, first has to be discussed out. This has to do with a complete freezing of the Arctic Ocean with a thick ice-shelf, in some parts (like the Barents Sea), down to the bottom. In this case, though, an extremely strong anticyclone could arise at the surface, with out-flowing easterly winds and a strong aridity. I would assume that during the ice age, precipitation in the areas, mentioned by you, could only have been in the magnitude of 100-150 mm."

Professor N. K. Vereshchagin and G. F. Baryshnikov, Institute of Zoology, Russian Academy of Sciences, in St. Petersburg, are now Russia’s foremost mammoth experts. They state about the mammoth of the Far North, about the climate, wherein it has lived, about the food it ate and the water, it was able to drink during the long arctic winter:

"In summer mammoths fed primarily on herbage – prairie grasses, sedges, cotton grass, and the terminal shoots of shrubs (willow, birch and alder). They tore the bark off willow and larch with their tusks. In winter, when water bodies froze and snow was absent, mammoths could apparently obtain water by using their tusks to scrape ground ice from the vertical walls of cliffs or from surface cracks. This hypothesis seems to be confirmed by lateral wear commonly found on the ends of tusks even in young individuals, and by the frequency of fractured tusks, probably broken in such activity. As yet, there are no data on the winter diet of mammoths, but it probably consisted of dried grass and shoots of leaf-bearing shrubs and conifers (larch, pine, and fir).

"Mammoths apparently undertook long southerly treks along the river valleys, especially in the event of heavy snowfalls and droughts. ... Rare but excellent burials of carcasses (of the mammoths) occurred when animals fell into insidious cracks eroded in ground ice by small streams. Soft tissue and even whole bodies were preserved to the present because the mammoths lived in a permafrost environment, with winter temperatures of minus 60-80 degrees centigrade." (1984:490).

Ivan T. Sanderson, American zoologist, however, writes about the mammoths of northern Siberia and Alaska (1960:76): "The American inland-ice was stretching from the Rocky Mountains eastward to the Atlantic Ocean. Large parts of Alaska remained free of ice, also northern Asia from the Bering Strait to the Ural. In these areas there was a tundra vegetation. It was well able to keep quite large herds of ungulates alive. But it (the tundra vegetation) would hardly have been able, to feed large herds of mammoths, especially not during the whole year, unless the plant cover has been then much richer, than the present tundra vegetation. We shall see later on, that an elephant needs each day one half to one and a half ton of fodder.

"It is very doubtful, whether elephant-like animals would be able to survive the winter, by scraping away the snow, and by eating frozen mosses and lichens. Abu (elephant) do also need much water. And if Alaska and Siberia have had then a climate, like that of today, the mammoths would not have had then any water for more than half a year. For one cannot imagine, that they were able to cover their need for liquid only by eating snow. Should there have been then in Siberia and Alaska not a little milder climate, even though being so close to the American and North European inland masses of ice?"

Just like the Reindeer?

Someone may ask now: How has the mammoth in the Far North found enough to drink during the long arctic winter? – The ice-age expert will ask back then: How is the reindeer now finding enough to drink in winter? – By eating snow! – Well, the mammoth must also have eaten then snow in winter! – Is that true? Is that reasonable? Has that been proved scientifically? How much snow is the reindeer eating in winter? – I wrote to Sven Skjenneberg, Norwegian reindeer expert. He replied on 15^th December 1975: "The reindeer is using snow in winter. Changed into water, not more than 1 l/day, beside the moisture, contained in its food."

Using Fat-Reserves

The mammoth, preserved in Siberia’s frozen ground, had a layer of fat beneath its skin, up to 9 cm thick. Could this elephant not have gotten enough liquid in winter, by using up its fat-reserves, stored in autumn in its body? Could it not have burned up its large fat-reserve, changing it into water? Some people do believe that this is possible. Will it work?

Professor Bernhard Grzimek says about the water gained, when "burning" body fat (1968:150): "The components of our body, protein, starch, and fat do all contain hydrogen. When they ‘burn up’ and the hydrogen is combining thereby with the oxygen of the air, water will arise. So, one has found out, that 100 g of body protein, when ‘burned down’, will produce in the body 41 g water. And 100 g fat will change into 107 g water. The 40-kg fat-hump on the back of the dromedary will therefore change into 40 l of water. But this fine theoretical solution has a hitch to it. The animal must first take in the needed oxygen from the air through its lungs, in order to ‘burn up’ the fat. But when exhaling (the air), the body is losing through the moisture in the breathed-out air more water, than it will gain, when changing the fat into water."

Let us see now, how this works with the mammoth: If the 4000 kg mammoth, for instance, had stored up 400 kg of fat in its body in autumn, it would gain then only about 428 l of water, when burning up those 400 kg of body-fat. When eating dry food, and when reducing its metabolic rate by one third, the 4000-kg elephant needs then 80 l of drinking water per day. The 428 liter of water from the burned-up fat would supply the tusker then only with water for about 5.3 days. Actually, the elephant will not gain any extra water at all, when burning up body fat, because it will lose more water, when exhaling the inhaled air, than it is gaining by burning up fat. So, that does not work either.

Eating Hoarfrost

Someone might say now: But could the mammoth in northern Siberia and Alaska not have found enough to drink in winter, by eating the hoar-frost, covering the blades and twigs. Would not that help?

The German zoologist Theodor Haltenorth, Director of the Department of Mammals, at the Zoological Collection of the Bayuvarian State, in Munich, says about this (1973:251): "Especially dangerous is in winter the hoarfrost, covering each blade and twig with a layer of ice. This makes it very difficult for the ungulates to feed, so that they are not able then anymore, to take in the needed amount of food, and are thereby losing condition. Usually, the hoarfrost will last only one or two days. But every one or two dozens of years, it will stay from a few days to one or two months. Then whole herds of ungulates will hunger to death and will be annihilated in many areas. But the time between these two continuous hoarfrosts is long enough, so that the population will be able to increase again. But if the hoarfrost comes during two winters in a row, it will destroy millions of ungulates. Thus, the Mongols are calling this frost Dzoud or Dshud (in English ‘ungulate mass-death’). In recent years, the wild sheep of Transkaspia and in Transbaikalia, the Mongolian gazelle in the upper Yenissey-Steppe, and the kulans (wild asses) in Kazakhstan have been annihilated."

Drinking Water: How much?

How much water must the elephant drink each day, when eating fresh green food? And how much must it drink each day, when eating dry food, like hay? How long will the elephant be able to live without drinking any water? When will this tusker thirst to death? After how many days? At which intake-deficit of drinking water, compared to the amount of water, it must drink, when eating dry food?

Professor Rudolf Altevogt, Zoological Institute, Dept. of Physiology and Ecology, in Münster, NW Germany, is one of the world’s authorities on elephants. He writes about the elephant and its drinking water: "Usually, the elephant must drink about seventy to ninety liters of liquid each day. When drinking, it is sucking about one pail full of water about forty centimeter up into its trunk, closes the end with its trunk-finger more or less well, and then squirts the water into its mouth. An elephant is able to drink twelve to fourteen pails of water at one time." – If the pail contains10 l of water, that are then120 to 140 liter.

On 6 February 1984, Professor R. Altevogt wrote to me: "There is a rule that elephants, kept under zoological conditions, when eating dry food (like hay, for instance), do need about 5 kg of water per 100 kg of body weight per day." – That is 5% of its body weight.

Professor Neugebauer is Director of the Wilhelma, the zoological garden of Stuttgart, SW Germany. He explained to me in his letter of 16 July 1975 whether the elephant could live in Siberia, if it found an open place of water: "I could imagine theoretically that an elephant would also be able to take in enough liquid at –50°C at an open water-place. But it would probably not be able to live there very long, since surely some of its body parts, not covered by hair, would have frozen off him, long before this."

And on 27 May 1975, Professor Neugebauer explained to me: "... an elephant needs each day 70-90 liters of drinking water. At –50°C the elephant would freeze to death very quickly. If it wanted to cover its whole requirement of liquid by eating powdery snow, its mouth-area would have cooled down so much before that already that it would not even have been able to move its trunk anymore."

And Dr. Lutz Plasa, also at the Wilhelma, wrote to me on 28 December 1983 about the elephant: "An animal, weighing 4000 kg, needs about 70-100 l of water each day." That is 2.125% of its body weight.

The Zoological Garden in Berlin wrote to me on 2 January 1984: "An adult elephant with a body weight of about 3 to 3 ½ tons is drinking 90-100 liters of water each day. When taking in fresh grass in summer, it will need less liquid." – that is 2.923% of its body weight.

Dr. H. Wiesner at Hellabrunn, the zoological garden in Munich, South Germany, stated in his letter of 2 January 1984: "When feeding only hay, which is not the case with our elephants anyway, we do assume a daily need of water of about 150 l per animal and day."

Dr. Carl Hagenbeck at the Carl Hagenbeck Zoological Garden in Hamburg, NW Germany, wrote to me on 24 January 1978: "... to your inquiry from 20. 01. (1978), I am informing you that elephants are not able to live in ice and snow." – And on 7 January 1984, Dr. Carl Hagenbeck wrote to me: "... my elephants are being watered in winter each morning with warmed-up water (22°C). A grown Indian elephant of about three tons is drinking about 200 liters." – That is 6.666% of its body weight.

Scientific?

The mammoth has been able to live in the Far North, some say, because it was adapted to the severe arctic climate, as we find it now in northeastern Siberia. In winter it was able to get enough drinking water, by eating snow or ice. – Is that true? Is that scientific? Has that been proved now scientifically through experiment or observation? Many zoologists have experimented much with the African and Asian elephant. Has any proponent of the ice-age dogma, as now commonly taught, ever thought of seriously trying to prove this scientifically? Has he ever tried to prove that the mammoth – as an elephant – was able to get enough drinking water during the arctic winter, by eating snow or ice?

That would be quite simple. One just would have to give an elephant only snow to eat, instead of giving him water to drink (beside the dry food, like hay). – How long would the elephant then be able to eat this snow? How long would he be able to live then? Or asked the other way around? When would this tusker then thirst to death? One hears then the argument: But we cannot do that, because the elephant is one of the most valuable animals in our zoo. No zoological garden would want to lose any of its elephants. – That might well be so. But is that logical? – Hardly. If the elephant were really able to live in winter on snow (like the reindeer), instead of drinking water, one would not lose the animal at all. It would easily survive this trial. And the proponents of the ice age dogma would have then a powerful argument for the mammoth’s adaptation to arctic cold.

In some southern parts of Africa, they are shooting (culling) many elephants each year, when they have become too many. So, there must be another reason: No proponent of today’s ice-age dogma has ever tried to prove scientifically (experimentally) that the elephant is able to get enough water in winter, by eating snow, because he knows all too well that this is not true. So he just keeps on hiding behind empty assertions.

Thirsting to Death

How long is the African elephant able to live without drinking any water? When will it thirst to death? After how many days? How large will be then its intake-deficit of water, below its intake level, when eating dry food, like hay?

A research report from the Galana Ranch, adjacent to Tsavo East National Park, in Kenya, East Africa, will help us, to find out more about this. The zoologists B. R. Heath and C. R. Field report in their article "Elephant endurance on Galana Ranch, Kenya", in the East African Wildlife Journal 12: 239-42 (1974):

"... there was very little rain from mid-April to mid-June. From July to mid-November there was no significant rain. Furthermore, the rain in the second half of June had less effect than the total figures would suggest since there were seven falls averaging 0.39 cm, with a maximum of about 0.36 cm. Despite this there was a small response in the vegetation and some grasses and herbs had a little green growth. The rain was localized in the region of the paddocks and the sparse green vegetation was sufficient to attract elephants into the vicinity.

"On July 27 thirty-four elephant, mostly females, immatures and young, entered the 14.2-ha paddock which had not been previously occupied by the experimental animals. They remained there continuously for 10 days before seven entered two adjacent paddocks. This was verified by the absence of new foot prints leaving or entering the paddock system and the presence of a similar number inside the paddocks each day. The animals became emaciated when compared with elephant outside the paddock and showed prominent pelvic bones and scapulae. Under these conditions it would have been most unlikely for elephant to return, had they once escaped." (1974:240).

"Several attempts were made to scare the elephant out of the enclosure; these included making a loud noise, flying an aircraft low overhead, firing rifle shots over their backs and driving them on foot. Their response was to run to one end of the paddock, but they always stopped when they reached the fence line. The fence itself formed no physical barrier since it was only one section of Cyclone wire and had been broken by the elephant when they entered.

"After 12 days, about 65 m of fence was rolled up and the accompanying posts were removed. Two nights later most of the herd broke out at another place and left the area. Four of the elephant, however, broke a fence and entered an adjoining 40.5-ha paddock. After a further day two of these animals escaped but the remaining two persisted and one died on the 15^th day and the other after a total of 17 days in the paddock. These were 2.5-3 years and 2 years old, respectively, based on aging criteria of Laws (1969).

"During the period of their ‘incarceration’ no free drinking water was available in the paddocks. However, calculations ... indicate that some dew would have formed on all except one of the nights that the elephant were in the paddock. Had the elephant concentrated their feeding when dew was available they would have obtained some moisture in this way." (1974:240).

"That the elephants were suffering from acute malnutrition was evident from their body conformation and protruding bones. Despite this, however, several suckling calves survived while the juveniles suffered most, with two eventually dying. These observations preceded by 2 to 3 months of the death of about 5900 elephants in the adjacent Tsavo National Park (Corfield, 1973) and of a smaller number on Galana ranch. However, in contrast to the situation in the paddock, permanent water was available to the Tsavo elephants. This prolonged their survival, but also subjected the dormant vegetation to extensive and possibly permanent damage.

"The circumstance of the survival of some elephant in the absence of free water and adequate food and the eventual death of two juveniles provides an upper limit to their endurance or tolerance of extreme environmental conditions, of 15-17 days. While other factors such as the lack of adequate shade and excessive disturbance may have aggravated the condition of the animals." - Heath, B. R. and C. R. Field (1974:242).

When thirsting to Death

How can we summarize now our findings? How long is the African elephant able to live without drinking any water, while eating mainly dry food, low in protein?

On July 27, 1971, a herd of 34 elephants, mostly females, juveniles and calves, entered the 14.2-ha paddock of Galana ranch, adjacent to Tsavo East National Park, in Kenya. They probably had drunk water at the nearby Galana River, about 10 km away, before coming into the paddock. Within this paddock, they had no drinking water at all, only some dew at night on the grass. The elephants in the paddock became skinny, were slowly starving to death. All of the 34 elephants stayed 14 days in the paddock, without any drinking water.

Other elephants, outside of the paddock, were well nourished. They were able to drink at nearby Galana River, 10 km away. Then, most of the herd broke out and walked away. Four animals stayed behind in the paddock. One the 15^th day, two of these four animals broke also out and walked away. Two calves stayed behind. One was 2.5-3 years old, the other one 2 years old. The 2.5-3-year-old calf died on the 15^th day and the 2-year-old calf on the 17^th day.

The African elephant calf, when 2 years old, weighs about 500 kg. And the African elephant calf, 3 years old, about 700 kg (Eltringham, S. K. written comm. 21 February 1984). The 2.5-3 –year-old calf, 2.75 years old, weighed then about 667 kg. When eating dry food, the elephant needs 3-5% of its body weight drinking water. We shall use now only the lowest value of 3% body weight.

2-Year-Old Elephant Calf

How much water must the 2-year-old calf drink each day, when eating dry food, like hay? And at which intake-deficit of drinking water has it thirsted to death, when it had stayed 17 days in the paddocks of Galana ranch?

At 3% of its body weight of 500 kg, the 2-year-old elephant calf must drink 15 liter (kg) of water each day, when eating dry food. When drinking no water at all, this calf will then have an intake deficit of drinking water of 15 liter per day. After 17 dry days (from 27^th July to 15^th August 1971 in the paddocks of Galana ranch), the 2-year-old elephant calf had an intake deficit of drinking water of 225 liter (kg). 255 kg (liter) intake-deficit of drinking water after 17 days : 500 kg body weight of 2-year-old elephant calf = 51% of its body weight. Then it thirsted and starved to death.

Result: The 2-year-old 500 kg elephant calf thirsted to death, when it had stayed 17 days in the paddocks of Galana ranch. Its intake-deficit of drinking water had reached then 51% of its body weight.

2.5-3.0-year-old Elephant Calf

The 2.75 (2.5-3.0) year-old African elephant calf weighs about 667 kg. It thirsted to death in the paddocks of Galana ranch, after it had not been able to drink any water for 15 days in a row. There was only some dew on the grass at night. It stayed there from 27^th July to 10^th August 1971.

When eating dry food (like hay), the elephant needs at least 3% of its body weight of drinking water per day. That is, when its metabolic rate has been reduced by one third. The 2.75-year-old 667-kg elephant calf had to drink then 20.01 liter (kg) of water each day. Thus, its intake deficit of drinking water was 300.15 liter (kg), when thirsting to death on the 15^th day. That is 45.0% of its body weight.

Elephant eating Snow

If the elephant in the Far North had to eat snow in winter, to get enough drinking water: How much snow would it have to eat then each day? How fast would the elephant then be able to take in this snow? In other words: For how much snow would there have been then room in its stomach?

At the beginning of April 1975, I visited the Wilhelma, the zoological-botanical garden of Stuttgart, in SW Germany. I had a chance, to talk there with the keeper of the elephants. He has looked there after his elephants for several decades. Since he did not want me to mention his name, I shall simply call him here "Mr. D." I explained to him that I am studying the mammoths, found in Siberia’s frozen ground. And that I would like to find out, how they were able to live up there. He knows the European part of northern Russia from personal experience, because he has been there himself during World War II as a German soldier. Parts of the discussion, in front of the elephant enclosure, now follow:

I (H. K.) asked him: "Would the elephant be able, to live now in northern Russia?"

Mr. D.: "No, an elephant is not able to live there. The snow is there far too deep."

H. K.: "How much water must the elephant at least drink each day, when eating dry food?"

Mr. D.: "When feeding our elephants with hay, they will need at least 100 to 150 liters of waters each day."

H. K.: "When the elephant is eating snow: How will it take up then this snow?"

Mr. D.: "We have had here in Stuttgart several times snow. When it is warm enough, we let the elephants go outside for a few minutes; but only, when there is no frost. Their ears will easily freeze at the edges."

H. K.: "How does the elephant take up the snow?"

Mr. Dr.: "The elephant may suck up the snow with its trunk and blow it into its mouth. But that will take far too slow. Usually, the elephant will push the snow with the end of its trunk together into a heap. Then it puts its trunk around this heap of snow and throws it into its mouth."

H. K.: "How much snow is the elephant able to take in at one time?"

Mr. D.: "That I do not know either."

When I was at the Wilhelma at the beginning of April in 1975, there was then no snow on the ground. So I asked the elephant keeper: "Could we not try to find this out, by taking some fodder, which is most similar to snow?" and handed him a plastic bag. We went into the elephants’ house to the food-boxes. Out of one of these boxes, Mr. D. then took out some roughly ground oats and put it into the plastic bag. Then we walked through a narrow corridor into the enclosure of the elephants. More correctly: Mr. D. went out into the enclosure of his elephants, while I stayed within the narrow concrete passageway. This passageway was just wide enough, so that a human being was easily able to walk through it. But no elephant was able to go through there, since it was so narrow – at least no grown one. The elephants now came running to their keeper, like a bunch of young dogs, hoping to get something to eat. Suddenly I began to feel very small, when seeing the heads of these giants looming up in front of me, above me. Their trunks were winding towards me like snakes, sucking in the hair, trying to grab me.

The elephant keeper then went to a large Indian elephant cow and threw three large hands full of roughly ground oats in front of her onto the concrete floor. – How would she take up now the food, and how fast?, I wondered. How much is she able to take up at one time?, I asked myself, while looking at the second-hand of my watch.

The elephant cow then put the end of her trunk flat on the ground. And with lightning-speed she pushed the ground oats into a heap. Then she rolled the lower end of her trunk around the heap of ground oats, clamping it between the lower end of her trunk. Then she shrew it into her mouth. About one handful remained on the ground. Then she swept the rest of the ground oats with the end of her trunk together, clamped it between the lower end of her trunk, and threw it also into her mouth. The other elephants were also trying to get something.

Mr. D. then threw again three large hands full of ground oats in front of the same Asian elephant cow. Then we tried it with another elephant. I was looking at my watch, to find out, how long they needed, to take in one "trunk-load": It took them about one minute.

Since I had never seen the end of the elephant’s trunk from near-by, I asked Mr. D.: May I see once, how the trunk looks from inside? – The elephant keeper then took the trunk of a large Asian elephant cow, standing close in front of the passage-way, wherein I was hiding. He held the trunk so towards me that I was able to look into the opening of her trunk. I also saw now the gripping-finger at the end of her trunk quite clearly, only a few centimeters away. Suddenly a mighty trumpet-blast hit me right into my face. The elephant cow did not like it at all that she had to show her trunk to this tiny intruder, hiding there in front of her inside the passageway.

Then I asked Mr. D., to, please, put just as much of the ground oats into the plastic bag, as the elephant is able to take in at one time with its trunk – as accurately as possible. Later on, at home, I measured it: about 300 cubic centimeters. Now I knew, how much dry snow the elephant is able to pick up with its trunk, and how fast the elephant is able to pick up those 300 cubic centimeters of snow: In one minute.

The elephant would also be able to suck the dry snow up into its trunk – about 40 cm upward. Then it blows the snow into its mouth, like when drinking water. But that would be far too slow, even in a mild climate, as the elephant keeper explained to me. In northern Siberia, in winter at –50°C and –60°C, the elephant’s trunk, mouth and throat would freeze then stiff within minutes!

How much Snow: how fast?

How much snow would the elephant have to eat each day, when living in winter in northern Siberia in an arctic climate? And how long would this tusker need then, to pick up this snow? - How much water the elephant needs, when eating dry snow, like hay, we do know already: at least 100 to 150 liter (kg). At an average 125 liter of drinking water per day, when eating dry food, the 3.5-ton elephant will need 3.125% of its body weight drinking water. And the 4-ton elephant, at 3.125% of its body weight, will need 120 liters per day. It the elephant is taking in only 3% of its body weight drinking water per day, the 3.5-ton elephant will need 105 liter a day. And the 4-ton elephant, 120 liter a day.

We shall assume now that the elephant is lowering its metabolic rate by one third. Then it will have to eat and to drink (theoretically) about 1/3 less water per day. The 3.5-ton elephant will need then only 70 liter drinking water per day, and the 4-ton elephant 80 liter. How much snow must the elephant then eat each day? We could find this out, if we knew, how much water the snow in the Far North contains. I have lived for eight years in the Yukon Territory, east of Alaska, most of the time out in the wilderness, traveling in winter with my dog-team, on snowshoes. Often enough I have melted in winter the snow in a pot at my camp fire, in front of my brush-lean-to (a slanting wall of spruce twigs, reflecting the camp fire’s heat onto the brush-bed beneath the lean-to). I had to fill my teapot several times with cold snow, before I had enough melt-water for tea or for cooking a meal. The snow in the subarctic Yukon Territory contains in winter only little water. That much I did now. But exactly how little? – I wrote to the meteorologists, to find out.

Dr. Herzog, senior government councilor at the German meteorological service in Munich, S. Germany, replied on 1 April 1975: "Very light snow (fluffy to powdery snow) has a density of 10 to 60 kg/m³. Pressed snow to settled snow has a density of 60 to 400 kg/m³. Then there is also perpetual snow (névé), arising through melting and freezing on the ground, which may weigh up to 700 kg/m³. These figures are generally valid, are therefore also valid for the Arctic.

Meteorologist Reijo Solantie, from the Finnish Meteorological Institute in Helsinki, replied on 2 April 1975: "In Lapland one cubic meter of new snow contains about 100 liter of water. Later on in spring, shortly before the snow is melting, 1 cubic meter of snow may contain about 220 l of water. The snow’s water content in Siberia is similar."

The Weather Service in Stuttgart, SW Germany, wrote to me on 15 April 1975: "The specific weight of newly fallen snow varies around 0.1, but also values of down to 0.005 have been found. When using this last value for extremely loose and light powdery snow, this means: 200 cm deep snow will have, when melting, a water layer of 1 cm. 1 m³ of such snow will give then 5 mm/m² or 5 l water."

Result

1.      Fluffy to powdery snow contains 10-60 l water/m³, pressed snow 40-400 l/m³. New snow in Lapland contains 100 l/m³, and in spring, shortly before melting, 220 l/m³.

2.      The adult elephant is taking in per minute with its trunk about 300 cm³ of dry, loose snow.

3.      When eating fresh, green food, the elephant must drink 70-90 liter of water per day, or an average 80 liter. When eating dry food, like hay, the elephant must drink at least 100-150 liter per day.

4.      When drinking, the elephant will suck about one pail full of water about 40 cm high up into its trunk. Then it closes the tip of its trunk and puts it into its mouth. Then the pachyderm squirts the water into its mouth. It is able to drink 12-14 pails full of water at one time. At 10 liter a pail, that is then 120-140 liter.

How much powdery snow per day

How much powdery snow must the 3500 kg elephant (or mammoth) take in each day, when living in winter in northern Siberia, when lakes, rivers and ponds are deeply frozen? We shall assume now: The tundra (or tundra-steppe) is covered with powdery snow. And this powdery snow contains 50 liter of water per cubic meter. How much of this snow would the 3.5-ton elephant then have to eat each day, while eating dry food, to get enough drinking water?

The Asian female elephant Jap, which Benedict (1936) has studied, needed 97.28 g DM/kg^0.75 per day for maintenance, when eating hay. – How much water must the elephant drink, when it is cold, at –18°C?

The nutritional requirements of the elephant are very similar to those of the horse and the white rhino. The book Nutrient Requirements of horses, was published 1989 by the Subcommittee on Horse Nutrition, the Committee on Animal Nutrition, the Board of Agriculture and the National Research Council of America. It says about water:

"An adequate supply of clear water is essential for horses. The water content of the body is relatively constant (68 to 72 percent of the total weight on a fat-free basis) and cannot change appreciably without severe consequences for the horse. The minimal water requirement for any horse is the sum of the water lost from the body plus a component for growth in young animals (Robinson and McCance, 1952; Mitchell, 1962). Water is lost from the body in excretion of urine, feces, and sweat; in evaporation from the lungs and skin (insensible water loss), and through productive secretions such as milk. Lactation (milk production) may increase the water need by 50 to 70 percent above that required for maintenance. ... Water deprivation can lead to digestive disturbance such as colic (Argenzio at al. 1974).

"One of the most important factors influencing water consumption is the dry matter intake. In an extensive review of the water requirements of animals, Leitch and Thomson (1944) concluded that horses need 2 to 3 liters of water/kg of dry matter intake. Fonnesbeck (1968) observed ad libitum water intake during metabolism trials with horses. Regression equations computed from the diet means showed that water intake can be estimated with a high degree of confidence from dry matter intake for horses receiving a maintenance diet. The trials demonstrated that all-hay diets resulted in a water-to-feed ratio of 3.6:1, whereas that of hay-grain diets was 2.9-1. An increase in environmental temperature may also increase the need for water sharply. According to Lewis (1982), at –18°C, horses consume 2 l of water/kg of dry feed, whereas at 38°C, they consume 8 liters/kg." (1989:30).

3.5-ton Elephant in Winter

How much water must a 3.5-ton elephant drink each day, when the air-temperature is –18°C? The Asian female elephant Jap needed 97.28 g DM/kg^0.75 per day, when eating hay. That is 44.266 kg dry matter (DM), hay, per day. At 2 l water/kg dry feed, the animal needs then 88.533 liter (kg) water per day. The powdery snow, it must eat in the Far North during the arctic winter, contains 50 liter of water per cubic meter. How much snow is that?

88.533 l: 50 l/m³ = 1.77 m³ powdery snow per day.

The adult elephant is able to take in about 300 cm³ of ground oats (and of snow) per minute, as I found out at the Wilhelma, Stuttgart’s zoological garden. 1.77 m³/day = 1 770 000 cm³/day. How long will the elephant need then, to take up this 1.77 m³ of powdery snow?

1 770 000 cm³/d : 300 cm³/min = 5 900 minutes. 5 900 min : 60 min/h : 24 h/d = 4.097 days/1 day water

This means: When eating powdery snow in winter, containing 50 l/m³ water, the elephant would need 4.097 days, just to eat this 1.77 m³ of snow. It would have to eat this snow then day and night, 4 days in a row. And during these 4 days, the tusker would not be able then, to do anything else. It could neither graze nor sleep then.

And if the elephant were able to take in the snow much faster, than here assumed: Would it not have been then able to find enough to drink during the arctic Siberian winter?- Also that would not help much. The elephant would still have to thirst to death with a stomach full of snow. Important is here not only, how much snow the animal is able to take in how fast. Important is here also, how much room there is for this snow in its stomach. When the stomach is full, the elephant would first have to wait, till this snow has melted.

The adult elephant is able to drink 12-14 pails of water at one time. If one pail contains 10 liter, that is 120-140 liter, or an average 130 liter. Thus, the adult elephant has room in its stomach for about 0.12 m³. When its stomach is filled with snow, the animal must wait, till the snow in its stomach has melted. And during this time, it is neither able to graze nor to browse, nor to eat any more snow. Until those 0.12 m² of snow in its stomach have melted, perhaps several hours would pass by.

This means: The 3.5-ton elephant would not be able to take in the 1.77 m³ of powdery snow at all within those 98.33 hours (or 4.097 days). That would have taken much longer, because the animal would have had to wait in-between, till the snow it has eaten, has melted. - At a stomach volume of about 0.12 m³: how often would the elephant then have had to fill its stomach with this 1.77 m³ of powdery snow each day?

1.77 m³ : 0.12 m³ = 14.75 times.

And if the 3.5-ton elephant had been able to take in the powdery snow twice as fast, as here assumed: would the elephant not have been able then, to get enough drinking water in the form of melted snow? - Even if the elephant took in 600 cm³ of snow per minute, instead of only 300 cm³, it still would thirst to death. At 50 liter of water per cubic meter of snow, the elephant would still have needed then 49.166 hours or 2.048 days, just to pick up the needed powdery snow, to take in the water for just one day.

We found out now: The 3500 kg elephant had to drink 88.533 liter of water a day, while eating 44.266 kg dry feed, while at maintenance. At an air temperature of –18°C, the pachyderm would have needed 2 l water for 1 kg dry feed. If the powdery snow contained 50 l/m³ water, the elephant would have had to fill its stomach 14.75 times with snow each day. That is: just to get enough water for one day. During the North Siberian arctic winter, this snow would be very cold, while the air temperature went down to –18°C, -40°C, -50°C and –60°C. The elephant’s trunk, mouth and throat would have become then numb and stiff within a few minutes. It would have pitifully thirsted and hungered to death up there during the arctic winter. – How soon would the elephant have thirsted to death in the arctic winter, when eating snow? After how many days?

An elephant is able to drink 12 to 14 pails of water at a time. This elephant has just sucked up a trunk full of water. Now it is squirting it into its mouth. After: Grzimeks Tierleben (1972:498). The elephant is only able to live, where there is suitable drinking water.

Thirsting to death

When will the elephant thirst to death during the arctic winter, when eating powdery snow, to get enough drinking water? After how many days?

At 97 g DM/kg^0.75 day, when eating dry feed (when at maintenance), the 3.5-ton elephant needs 44.26 kg DM/day. At –18°C air temperature, the tusker needs 1 kg DM/2 l water (like the horse). That is 88 liter of water a day. When eating powdery snow, containing 50 l water/m³, it would have had to eat then each day 1.77 m³. It would need then 98.333 hours each day, just to take in the 88 liter of drinking water for 1 day. That is: The elephant would need then 4.097 days, just to take in enough snow, so that it would get enough water for one day.

The elephant will feed 12 to 19 hours per day (Sukumar, R., 1989:79). We shall assume here that the elephant is grazing only 14 hours a day. During 5 hours a day it is eating snow. And during the remaining 5 hours of the day, the animal is walking or sleeping. – When will the 3.5-ton elephant then thirst to death? After how many days? - The 3.5-ton elephant will then thirst to death within 21 days. How calculated: 88 liter/day :

98.333 hours/day = 0.895 l/hour x 5 h/day =4.474 l/day. 88 l/day minus 4.474 l/day =83.526 l/day less.

This means: The 3.5-ton elephant is taking in here each day 83.526 liter of drinking water too little, when eating snow. Its intake-deficit of drinking water is then each day 2.386 per cent of its body weight.

Like 2-year-old Elephant Calf

The 2-year-old 500-kg elephant calf on Galana ranch, Kenya, has thirsted to death, after it had not drunk any water for 17 days in a row. Its intake deficit of drinking water had reached then 51% of its body weight. – When would the 3.5-ton elephant have reached then its intake-deficit of drinking water of 51% of its body weight? After how many days? When eating snow (with 50 l/m³ water), the intake-deficit of drinking water for the 3.5-ton elephant is then 2.386% of its body weight per day:

51% : 2.386% = 21.375 days.

We have used here the total intake-deficit of drinking water of the 2-year-old elephant calf, of 51% of its body weight. It thirsted to death on Galana ranch after 17 days. These 51% we divide then through 2.386%. That is the daily intake-deficit of drinking water, when eating powdery snow (with 50 l/m³ water) compared to its body weight. We do get then 21.375 days. In other words: The 3.5-ton elephant will thirst to death, while eating powdery snow, after 21.375 days. Because then, it will have reached its intake-deficit of drinking water of 51% of its body weight.

Like 2.75-year-old Elephant Calf

The other young elephant calf at Galana ranch, 2.75 (2.5-3) years old, weighed about 667 kg. It thirsted to death, after it had been without any drinking water for 15 days in a row. It thirsted to death, when the total intake-deficit of drinking water had reached 45% of its body weight. When would the 3.5-ton elephant then have starved to death. That is: when would it thirst then to death? The air temperature is then –18°C. The tusker is eating 44.266 kg dry feed per day. He must drink then 88.533 liter water per day (at 2 liter water/1 kg dry feed). When eating powdery snow (with 50 l/m³ water), the 3.5-ton elephant is taking in then only 5.007 liter of water per day. Namely, while eating snow for 5 hours a day. That is 83.526 liter of drinking water per day too little. Its daily intake-deficit of drinking water is then 2.386% of its body weight. After how many days will the elephant then thirst to death. When will it have reached now the lethal intake-deficit of drinking water of 45% of its body weight, like the 2.75-year-old elephant calf on Galana ranch?

45% : 2.386% = 18.86 days.

This means: The 3.5-ton elephant will thirst to death, when eating powdery snow, containing 50 l/m³ of water, after 18.86 days. Then it will have reached its deadly intake-deficit of drinking water of 45% of its body weight. The elephant will thirst to death with a stomach full of snow.

Eating pressed Snow

Someone might say now: But the snow in the Far North does not stay powdery and fluffy all winter. Also up there it will settle down. Also up there it will be pressed down more and more by its down weight. Perhaps, the elephant (or mammoth) could have found enough to drink then during the long arctic winter! – Would that work?

Let us take now pressed snow, instead, containing 100 liter (kg) of water per cubic meter. At an air temperature of –18°C, the 3.5-ton elephant must drink then 88.533 liter of water per day, when eating dry food. – How much snow would it have to eat then?

The 3.5-ton elephant would need then each day 0.88 m³ of pressed snow. That is a block of snow, 1 m long, 1 m wide and 0.88 m deep. How fast would the tusker then be able to eat up this block of pressed snow? That is, the amount of snow, it would have to take in each day, to get the water, it needed for just one day?

0.88 m³ = 880 000 cm³ : 300 cm³/min = 2933 min : 60 min/h = 48.88 h = 2.03 days.

This means: When eating pressed snow, with 100 kg (liter) of water/m³, the 3.5-ton elephant must eat each day a block of this pressed snow of 0.88 m³ or 880 000 cm³. But the pachyderm is able to take in only about 300 cm³ of this snow per minute. It needs then 2.03 days, just to take in this amount of snow, in order to get the water, it needs in winter for one day. During this time, the poor animal would not be able, to do anything else. It would have thirsted to death. – After how many days?

Like 2-year-old Elephant Calf

The 2-year-old elephant calf on Galana ranch, weighing about 500 kg, has thirsted to death, after it had not drunk any water for 17 days in a row. Its deadly intake deficit of drinking water had reached then 51% of its body weight. When would the 3.5-ton elephant have thirsted to death in the Far North, at an air temperature of –18°C, while eating pressed snow, containing 100 liter of water per cubic meter? It was eating then dry food. And it needed then 88 liter of drinking water per day (at 1 kg DM/2 l water).

The 3.5-ton elephant would have needed then 48.88 hours (= 2.03 days), just to take in the 88.533 liter of drinking water, it needed each day. How calculated: 88.533 l/day in 48.88 h/day for 3.5-ton elephant. That is 1.8 liter/hour. In 5 hours per day it would be able to take in 9.0 liter /day. 88 liter minus 9 liter = 79 liter of drinking water per day too little. 79 l/day water-deficit : 3500 kg BW = 2.257% of body weight.

51% of BW : 2.257% of BW = 22.596 days = death.

This means: At the deadly intake-deficit of drinking water of 51% of its body weight, the 2-year old elephant calf at Galana ranch has thirsted to death: It had not drunken then any water for 17 days in a row. The 3500-ton elephant would thirst then to death after 22.596 days: Because then it would also have reached its intake deficit of drinking water of 51% of its body weight.

Like 2.75-year-old Elephant Calf

The other young 2.75-year-old elephant calf weighed about 667 kg. It was also left behind and thirsted to death, when it had not drunken any water for 15 days in a row. Its intake deficit of drinking water had reached then 45% of its body weight. – When would the 3.5-ton elephant have thirsted then to death, at an air temperature of –18°C, while eating dry food, and while eating pressed snow, containing 100 l/m³ of water? - The 3.5-ton pachyderm would have thirsted to death after 19.9 days. How calculated:

45% : 2.257% = 19.938 days = death.

This means: The 3500-kg elephant has also taken in too little water, when eating pressed snow. Its intake-deficit of drinking water is now 2.257% of its body weight per day. We do divide now the deadly intake-deficit of drinking water of the 2.75-year-old elephant calf (at Galana ranch) of 45% of its body weight, through the daily intake deficit of drinking water of the 3.5-ton elephant, of 2.257% of its body weight. We do get then 19.938 days. Then the animal will thirst to death with a stomach filled with snow.

88 kg (liter) water needed per day. 48.88 h/day it needs to take in the pressed snow, with its 100 l/m³ water. That is 1.8 liter per hour. In this model the elephant is eating snow only during 5 hours each day. During the other 19 hours of the day, it is grazing, walking and sleeping. 88 liter minus 9 liter = 79 liter too little water per day. 79 liter water intake-deficit : 3500 kg elephant = 2.257% of body weight. 45% : 2.257% = 19.938 days. After 20 days the 3.5-ton elephant in the arctic winter is thirsting to death. The assumed adaptation of the woolly mammoth to arctic cold is not science, only science fiction.