Rhino Africa, an online tour operator, recently posted a picture of an African elephant cooling off in the ocean. Bathing in water is one way elephants can cool off in the hot summer, besides flapping their large ears.

“While common among Asian elephants, it is very unusual for African elephants to be seen in the sea!” reads the post’s caption on Facebook.

Besides behaviour, there are other ways to tell these two types of elephants apart.

Asian elephants are smaller, with smaller ears in proportion to their bodies. Interestingly, only some male Asian elephants grow tusks, whereas all African elephants have tusks – both male and female.

There are two types of African elephants: forest and savannah. Forest elephants are smaller and darker in colour, with straighter tusks that point downwards, while savannah elephants’ tusks curve outwards.