The elephant, the largest living land animal on earth, has intrigued and interested man from time immemorial. The great animal’s immense size, strength, and intelligence has meant that it has played a very important role in the economy, culture and religion of the countries where it is found.
Over the past 40 million years, more than 600 species of elephants have roamed the earth. Today
only two species are alive - the African elephant, and the Asian elephant. Climate fluctuations over the millennia and resulting vegetation changes caused the extinction of many elephant species, but the growth and development of human civilization has also taken its toll on them. Today, the Asian and the African elephant not only inhabit different geographical regions, but also have distinct physical characteristics. Asian elephants are found in countries like India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Indonesia. These elephants are more easily tamed than their larger and wilder African counterparts.
In fact, humans have used the docile Asian elephants for over 5000 years as beasts of burden, in warfare and in ceremonial activities! Asian elephants are smaller in size than their African counterparts and they have two domeshaped bulges on their forehead. They also have rounded backs and less wrinkled skin than African elephants. They possess only one single finger-like projection at the top of the trunk tip, while an African elephant has two. The African elephant has large fan like ears that are at least three times as large as the ears of the Asian elephant. The African elephant uses its enormous ears to regulate body temperature, to signal warnings to companions and when confronted with danger - to ward off threats!
It is interesting that each elephant’s ear is unique and is used as a kind of fingerprint for identification. Both male and female African elephants have tusks, but the tusks of the male elephant are much heavier and stouter than those of the female. In fact, the tusks of a full-grown male African elephant may weigh up to 200 kilos! Among Asian elephants, only the males have tusks that protrude beyond their lips. Tusks are actually the teeth or upper incisors of an elephant, and are the largest and heaviest teeth of any living animal. The elephant uses them to dig, rip bark from trees, for forage, and as a resting place for a heavy trunk! It can also be used by the elephant to hurl objects, and as a deadly weapon by an angry or threatened elephant.
Over the past 40 million years, more than 600 species of elephants have roamed the earth. Today
only two species are alive - the African elephant, and the Asian elephant. Climate fluctuations over the millennia and resulting vegetation changes caused the extinction of many elephant species, but the growth and development of human civilization has also taken its toll on them. Today, the Asian and the African elephant not only inhabit different geographical regions, but also have distinct physical characteristics. Asian elephants are found in countries like India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Indonesia. These elephants are more easily tamed than their larger and wilder African counterparts.
In fact, humans have used the docile Asian elephants for over 5000 years as beasts of burden, in warfare and in ceremonial activities! Asian elephants are smaller in size than their African counterparts and they have two domeshaped bulges on their forehead. They also have rounded backs and less wrinkled skin than African elephants. They possess only one single finger-like projection at the top of the trunk tip, while an African elephant has two. The African elephant has large fan like ears that are at least three times as large as the ears of the Asian elephant. The African elephant uses its enormous ears to regulate body temperature, to signal warnings to companions and when confronted with danger - to ward off threats!
It is interesting that each elephant’s ear is unique and is used as a kind of fingerprint for identification. Both male and female African elephants have tusks, but the tusks of the male elephant are much heavier and stouter than those of the female. In fact, the tusks of a full-grown male African elephant may weigh up to 200 kilos! Among Asian elephants, only the males have tusks that protrude beyond their lips. Tusks are actually the teeth or upper incisors of an elephant, and are the largest and heaviest teeth of any living animal. The elephant uses them to dig, rip bark from trees, for forage, and as a resting place for a heavy trunk! It can also be used by the elephant to hurl objects, and as a deadly weapon by an angry or threatened elephant.
ASIAN/INDIAN ELEPHANT VIDEO
It is amazing that elephants, like humans, are either right-tusked or left-tusked and favour the use of one tusk more than the other! Thus, an elephant’s much used working tusks tends to get more worn out over the years. Sadly, it is the elephant’s tusks that threaten its very survival, for they are made of ivory, which is greatly prized for making artifacts and jewellery. In the past, poachers have ruthlessly killed elephants to get their ivory tusks. Now trading in ivory is banned and is a punishable offence.
The most interesting feature of the elephant is undoubtedly its trunk, which is such a useful organ that it functions as both a nose and a hand! The trunk is an extremely flexible muscular organ, which is highly sensitive to touch. Much of what an elephant experiences comes through this exploratory organ, for it is used for feeding, for drinking, for squirting water during baths, and even for friendly wrestling matches with companions!
When elephants meet, one may use its trunk to touch another’s face, or they may entwine their trunks. This ‘trunk shake’ can be compared to a human handshake, and may be associated with similar functions such as assurance and greeting. It is also a way for elephants to test each other’s strength. In the wild, elephants have been observed using their trunks to chase away other animals. An elephant’s trunk never stays still and can extend, twist and turn in any direction. When they go swimming, elephants use their trunk as a snorkel! It is
such a versatile organ with so many uses that it takes two years for a baby elephant to become proficient in using its trunk!
AFRICAN ELEPHANT VIDEO
Despite their great weight, elephants walk almost noiselessly, with exceptional grace. Their thick, column like legs keep their bulk moving forward in smooth, rhythmic strides. A thick cushion of resilient tissue grows on the base of each foot, absorbing the shock of their weight. Elephants normally walk at a speed of about six kilometres per hour, but when roused to anger or afraid, they can accelerate, and charge at up to 40 kilometres per hour!
An elephant’s brain is larger than that of any land animal, and it is located at the back of its skull, well away from its forehead. Evidence gathered from scientific studies indicates that the elephant is a very intelligent animal. Elephants, like human beings, have strong individual personalities that affect how they interact with other elephants and behave. It is clear that some elephants are popular, while others are not. Some elephants show great leadership qualities, and these inevitably go on to become the leaders of their groups. Some elephants are kind and out going, but others may be selfcentered!
They grieve too, when one of their family members dies, sometimes even shedding tears from their eyes. Apart from trumpeting and grunting, elephants communicate with each other through special ‘elephant talk’ - very low sounds that are too soft for the human ear to distinguish.
Elephants display complex behaviour; living in tightly knit families that are matriarchal - that is, headed by the oldest females, who are wise and experienced in the ways of the jungle! Families are composed of sisters, cousins, aunts, and nieces, and their young offspring. They range in size from two to twenty nine members. These animals may remain together for life. If a family becomes too large, a few females leave to start a new herd. The members of a family bathe, look for food, rest and travel together as a group. Male elephants leave the group when they reach maturity, and wander around alone, though they sometimes form small groups.
These are not permanent though, and are not as tightly knit as the groups of females. Elephants are herbivores, and they eat a varied diet of grasses, fruit, vegetables, bark, roots, leaves and stems, but their favourite foods are banana, bamboo and sugarcane. It takes a lot of food to sustain their enormous bodies, and an adult can eat up to 300 kilos of food in a single day! The natural lifespan of an elephant, about 70 years, is comparable to a human’s.
It is a fact that elephants were domesticated as far back as during the Indus Valley civilization 5000 years ago, as the image of the elephant appears on the Harappa seals. Elephants have always been used in war, because of their immense strength. Hannibal the famous leader from Carthage used elephants in 200 B.C. to cross the Alps when he was leading his troops into battle against the Romans.
The Mughal emperor Akbar owned 3200 elephants, his son Jehangir owned 113000, and elephants were
used in warfare as recently as in the 1960’s during the Vietnam War!
Elephants are greatly respected in many eastern cultures. In Chinese, the phrase ‘to ride an elephant’ sounds the same as the word for happiness. During the days when present day Thailand was known as Siam, the sacred white elephant dominated the flag and culture. Buddhists, who believe that Buddha took the form of a magnificent white elephant during one of his earlier births, revere elephants. Hindus also venerate the elephant, and Ganesha the widely worshipped remover of obstacles, has the head of an elephant. According to Hinduism, the eight directions are guarded by eight elephants, and Lord Indra’s vehicle is an elephant called Airavata.
Elephants form an important part of Hindu religious festivals. Closely associated with the religion and culture of the country, the elephant will soon be declared a national heritage animal as a step up measure for its protection. It is no wonder that elephants have always fascinated and intrigued mankind, for they are, as the
famous poet John Donne wrote, ‘nature’s greatest masterpieces!’
Do You Know
They grieve too, when one of their family members dies, sometimes even shedding tears from their eyes. Apart from trumpeting and grunting, elephants communicate with each other through special ‘elephant talk’ - very low sounds that are too soft for the human ear to distinguish.
Elephants display complex behaviour; living in tightly knit families that are matriarchal - that is, headed by the oldest females, who are wise and experienced in the ways of the jungle! Families are composed of sisters, cousins, aunts, and nieces, and their young offspring. They range in size from two to twenty nine members. These animals may remain together for life. If a family becomes too large, a few females leave to start a new herd. The members of a family bathe, look for food, rest and travel together as a group. Male elephants leave the group when they reach maturity, and wander around alone, though they sometimes form small groups.
These are not permanent though, and are not as tightly knit as the groups of females. Elephants are herbivores, and they eat a varied diet of grasses, fruit, vegetables, bark, roots, leaves and stems, but their favourite foods are banana, bamboo and sugarcane. It takes a lot of food to sustain their enormous bodies, and an adult can eat up to 300 kilos of food in a single day! The natural lifespan of an elephant, about 70 years, is comparable to a human’s.
It is a fact that elephants were domesticated as far back as during the Indus Valley civilization 5000 years ago, as the image of the elephant appears on the Harappa seals. Elephants have always been used in war, because of their immense strength. Hannibal the famous leader from Carthage used elephants in 200 B.C. to cross the Alps when he was leading his troops into battle against the Romans.
The Mughal emperor Akbar owned 3200 elephants, his son Jehangir owned 113000, and elephants were
used in warfare as recently as in the 1960’s during the Vietnam War!
Elephants are greatly respected in many eastern cultures. In Chinese, the phrase ‘to ride an elephant’ sounds the same as the word for happiness. During the days when present day Thailand was known as Siam, the sacred white elephant dominated the flag and culture. Buddhists, who believe that Buddha took the form of a magnificent white elephant during one of his earlier births, revere elephants. Hindus also venerate the elephant, and Ganesha the widely worshipped remover of obstacles, has the head of an elephant. According to Hinduism, the eight directions are guarded by eight elephants, and Lord Indra’s vehicle is an elephant called Airavata.
Elephants form an important part of Hindu religious festivals. Closely associated with the religion and culture of the country, the elephant will soon be declared a national heritage animal as a step up measure for its protection. It is no wonder that elephants have always fascinated and intrigued mankind, for they are, as the
famous poet John Donne wrote, ‘nature’s greatest masterpieces!’
Do You Know
- No one has ever been able to domesticate the African elephant. Only the Indian elephant can be trained by man.
- An elephant cannot jump.
- An elephant’s tooth can weigh up to three kilograms.
- Elephants have been known to learn up to 60 commands.
- During World War II, the very first bomb dropped on Berlin by the Allies killed the only elephant in the Berlin Zoo.Elephants don’t drink with their trunks,but use them as “tools” to drink with.This is accomplished by filling the trunk with water and then using it as a hose top our it into the elephant’s mouth.
- An elephant´s trunk, a union of the nose and upper lip, is a highly sensitive organ with over 100,000 muscle units.
- Elephants are sensitive to fellow animals and if a baby complains, the entire family will rumble and go over to touch and caress it.
