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Elephant

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Mammals

                    iElephant
   African Bush (Savannah) Elephant in Kenya.
   African Bush (Savannah) Elephant in Kenya.
            Scientific classification

   Kingdom:   Animalia
   Phylum:    Chordata
   Subphylum: Vertebrata
   Class:     Mammalia
   Order:     Proboscidea
   Family:    Elephantidae
              Gray, 1821

                             Genera and Species

     * Loxodonta
          + Loxodonta cyclotis
          + Loxodonta africana
     * Elephas
          + Elephas maximus
          + Elephas antiquus †
          + Elephas beyeri †
          + Elephas celebensis †
          + Elephas cypriotes †
          + Elephas ekorensis †
          + Elephas falconeri †
          + Elephas iolensis †
          + Elephas planifrons †
          + Elephas platycephalus †
          + Elephas recki †
     * Stegodon †
     * Mammuthus †

   Elephantidae (the elephants) is a family of pachyderm, and the only
   remaining family in the order Proboscidea in the class Mammalia.
   Elephantidae has three living species: the African Bush Elephant, the
   African Forest Elephant (until recently known collectively as the
   African Elephant), and the Asian Elephant (also known as the Indian
   Elephant). Other species have become extinct since the last ice age,
   which ended about 10,000 years ago.

   Elephants are mammals, and the largest land animals alive today. The
   elephant's gestation period is 22 months, the longest of any land
   animal. At birth it is common for an elephant calf to weigh 120 kg (265
   lb). An elephant may live as long as 70 years, sometimes longer. The
   largest elephant ever recorded was shot in Angola in 1956. It was male
   and weighed about 12,000 kg (26,400 lb). The smallest elephants, about
   the size of a calf or a large pig, were a prehistoric variant that
   lived on the island of Crete until 5000 BC, possibly 3000 BC.

   Elephants are increasingly threatened by human intrusion, with the
   African elephant population plummeting from 1.3 million in 1970 to
   roughly 600,000 in 1989, to 272,000 in 2000 and then to between 400,000
   and 660,000 in 2003. The elephant is now a protected species worldwide,
   placing restrictions on capture, domestic use, and trade in products
   such as ivory.

Zoology

   Comparative view of the human and elephant frames, c1860.
   Enlarge
   Comparative view of the human and elephant frames, c1860.

Varieties

   It has long been known that the African and Asian elephants are
   separate species. African elephants tend to be larger than the Asian
   species (up to 4 m high and 7500 kg) and have bigger ears. Male and
   female African elephants have long tusks, while male and female Asian
   Elephants have shorter tusks, with tusks in females being almost
   non-existent. African elephants have a dipped back, smooth forehead and
   two "fingers" at the tip of their trunks, as compared with the Asian
   species which have an arched back, two humps on the forehead and have
   only one "finger" at the tip of their trunks.

   There are two populations of African elephants, Savannah and Forest,
   and recent genetic studies have led to a reclassification of these as
   separate species, the forest population now being called Loxodonta
   cyclotis, and the Savannah (or Bush) population termed Loxodonta
   africana. This reclassification has important implications for
   conservation, because it means where there were thought to be two small
   populations of a single endangered species, there may in fact be two
   separate species, each of which is even more severely endangered. There
   is also a potential danger in that if the forest elephant is not
   explicitly listed as an endangered species, poachers and smugglers
   might thus be able to evade the law forbidding trade in endangered
   animals and their body parts.

   The Forest elephant and the Savannah elephant can hybridise
   successfully, though their preference for different terrains reduces
   the opportunities to hybridise. Many captive African elephants are
   probably generic African elephants as the recognition of separate
   species has occurred relatively recently.

   Although hybrids between different animal genera are usually
   impossible, in 1978 at Chester Zoo, an Asian elephant cow gave birth to
   a hybrid calf sired by an African elephant bull (the old terms are used
   here as this pre-dates current classifications). The pair had mated
   several times, but pregnancy was believed to be impossible. " Motty",
   the resulting hybrid male calf, had an African elephant's cheek, ears
   (large with pointed lobes) and legs (longer and slimmer), but the
   toenail numbers, (5 front, 4 hind) and the single trunk finger of an
   Asian elephant. The wrinkled trunk was like an African elephant. The
   forehead was sloping with one dome and two smaller domes behind it. The
   body was African in type, but had an Asian-type centre hump and an
   African-type rear hump. The calf died of infection 12 days later. It is
   preserved as a mounted specimen at the British Natural History Museum,
   London. There are unconfirmed rumours of three other hybrid elephants
   born in zoos or circuses; all are said to have been deformed and did
   not survive.

African Elephant

   Female African Elephant with calf, in Kenya.
   Enlarge
   Female African Elephant with calf, in Kenya.

   The mammals of the genus Loxodonta, often known collectively as African
   elephants, are found in several regions throughout the continent, after
   which they are named. In recent years, Loxodonta has received the
   attention of the world because of its dwindling numbers. Today there
   are approximately 600,000 African elephants in the world. Some believe
   this represents a stable population and that measures to protect them
   are unnecessary. Others argue that while elephants are locally
   overabundant in certain areas, it is impossible to ignore the fact that
   the overall population has dropped by a staggering amount. As recently
   as 1979 there were an estimated 1.3 million African elephants. Now less
   than one half of that population exists. This decline is attributed
   primarily to poaching and habitat loss.

   Yet, the total African elephant population appears to have been more or
   less stable for more than a decade (despite being down tenfold from a
   half century ago). Some regions of Africa are dealing with local
   elephant overpopulations, while most regions are not. When reporting
   2002 estimates of 460,000 (probable) to 560,000 (possible) African
   elephants, researchers noted that this represented an increase over
   their 1998 figures (360,000 probable, 500,000 possible) suggestive of
   modest population growth. However, this apparent increase could have
   been an artifact of the much larger area represented in the 2002 survey
   – or "many other factors unrelated to overall elephant numbers" (From
   IUCN's African Elephant Status Report 2002, page 17:
   http://iucn.org/themes/ssc/sgs/afesg/aed/pdfs/aesr2002.pdf). The papers
   presented in Pachyderm magazine (journal of the African Elephant,
   African Rhino and Asian Rhino Specialist Groups) through June 2006 do
   not give any indication of a recent boom in elephant population . A
   "comprehensive African Elephant Status Report (AESR) is … expected to
   be published some time in 2006" based on their current data.

   African elephants are distinguished from Asians in several ways. The
   most noticeable difference is the ears. Africans' ears are much larger
   and are shaped like the continent of their origin. The African elephant
   is typically larger than the Asian and has a concave back. Both males
   and females have external tusks and are usually less hairy than their
   Asian cousins.

   Until the late 20th century, scientists recognized one species of
   African elephants, Loxodonta africana, and two subspecies, or races,
   within the species. Recent DNA analysis has led scientists to
   reclassify the two races as distinct species.

   Today, Loxodonta africana refers specifically to the Savanna Elephant,
   the largest of all the elephants. In fact, it is the largest land
   animal in the world, standing up to 13 ft (4 m) at the shoulder and
   weighing approximately 15,400 lb (7,000 kg). The average male stands
   about 3 m (10 ft) high at the shoulder and weighs about 5500–6000 kg,
   female being much smaller. Most often, Savanna Elephants are found in
   open grasslands, marshes, and lakeshores. They range over most of
   Africa, south of the Sahara Desert.

   The other, less numerous species is the Forest Elephant, recently
   reclassified as Loxodonta cyclotis. Compared with the Savanna Elephant,
   its ears are usually smaller and rounder, and its tusks are also
   thinner and straighter and are not directed outwards so much. The
   Forest Elephant can weigh up to 10,000 lb (4,500 kg) and stand about 10
   ft (3 m) tall. Much less is known about these animals than their
   savanna cousins because environmental and political obstacles make them
   very difficult to study. Normally they inhabit the dense African rain
   forests of central and western Africa, though occasionally they do
   inhabit the edges of forests and overlap territories with bush
   elephants.

Asian Elephant

   Today scientists estimate the world population of Asian elephants, also
   called Indian Elephants or Elephas maximus, to be approximately 40,000,
   less than one-tenth the number of African elephants. Perhaps the Asian
   elephants' decline has been less noticeable because it has been more
   gradual. The causes of this decline are much the same as that of the
   African.
   Elephant In Sri Lanka
   Enlarge
   Elephant In Sri Lanka

   As with the Loxodonta, there are distinct subspecies of Elephas
   maximus. In general, the Asian elephant is smaller than the African. It
   has smaller ears, shaped like the subcontinent of India, and typically,
   only the males have large external tusks. An Asian elephant can also be
   distinguished by the large bulges of depigmentation on the skin.

   The first subspecies is the Sri Lankan Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus
   maximus). Found only on the island of Sri Lanka, a small country off
   the southeast coast of India, it is the largest of the Asians. There
   are only an estimated 3,000-4,500 members of this subspecies left today
   in the wild, although no accurate census has been carried out in the
   recent past. Large males can weigh upward to 12,000 lb and stand over
   11 feet tall. Sri Lankan males have very large cranial bulges, and both
   sexes have more areas of depigmentation than are found in the other
   Asians. Typically, their ears, face, trunk, and belly have large
   concentrations of pink-speckled skin. There is an Orphanage for
   elephants in Pinnawala Sri Lanka, which gives shelter to disabled,
   injured elephants. This program plays a large role in protecting the
   Sri Lankan Elephant from extinction.

   Another subspecies, the Mainland Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus
   indicus) makes up the bulk of the Asian elephant population. Numbering
   approximately 36,000, these elephants are lighter gray in colour, with
   depigmentation only on the ears and trunk. Large males will ordinarily
   weigh only about 11,000 lb but are as tall as the Sri Lankan. The
   mainland Asian can be found in 11 Asian countries, from India to
   Indonesia. They prefer forested areas and transitional zones, between
   forests and grasslands, where greater food variety is available.

   The smallest of all the elephants is the Sumatran Asian Elephant
   (Elephas maximus sumatranus). Population estimates for this group range
   from 33,000 to 53,000 individuals. It is very light gray and has less
   depigmentation than the other Asians, with pink spots only on the ears.
   Mature Sumatrans will usually only measure about 10 ft (3 m) at the
   shoulder and weigh less than 9,000 lb. An enormous animal nonetheless,
   it is considerably smaller than its other Asian (and African) cousins
   and exists only on the island of Sumatra, usually in forested regions
   and partially wooded habitats.

   In 2003 a further subspecies was identified on Borneo. Named the Borneo
   pygmy elephant, it is smaller and tamer than other Asian elephants. It
   also has relatively larger ears, longer tail and straighter tusks.

Body characteristics

Trunk

   An elephant can use its trunk for a variety of purposes. This one is
   wiping its eye.
   Enlarge
   An elephant can use its trunk for a variety of purposes. This one is
   wiping its eye.

   The proboscis, or trunk, is a fusion of the nose and upper lip,
   elongated and specialized to become the elephant's most important and
   versatile appendage. African elephants are equipped with two fingerlike
   projections at the tip of their trunk, while Asians have only one.
   According to biologists, the elephant's trunk is said to have over
   forty thousand individual muscles in it , making it sensitive enough to
   pick up a single blade of grass, yet strong enough to rip the branches
   off a tree. Some sources indicate that the correct number of muscles in
   an elephant's trunk is nearer to one hundred thousand.

   Most herbivores (plant eaters, like the elephant) are adapted with
   teeth for cutting and tearing off plant materials. However, except for
   the very young or infirm, elephants always use their trunks to tear up
   their food and then place it in their mouth. They will graze on grass
   or reach up into trees to grasp leaves, fruit, or entire branches. If
   the desired food item is too high up, the elephant will wrap its trunk
   around the tree or branch and shake its food loose or sometimes simply
   knock the tree down altogether. The trunk is also used for drinking.
   Elephants suck water up into the trunk (up to fifteen quarts [14.2
   liters] at a time) and then blow it into their mouth. Elephants also
   inhale water to spray on their body during bathing. On top of this
   watery coating, the animal will then spray dirt and mud, which act as a
   protective sunscreen.

   This appendage also plays a key role in many social interactions.
   Familiar elephants will greet each other by entwining their trunks,
   much like a handshake. They also use them while play-wrestling,
   caressing during courtship, and for dominance displays - a raised trunk
   can be a warning or threat, while a lowered trunk can be a sign of
   submission. Elephants can defend themselves very well by flailing their
   trunk at unwanted intruders or by grasping and flinging them.

   An elephant also relies on its trunk for its highly developed sense of
   smell. Raising the trunk up in the air and swivelling it from side to
   side, like a periscope, it can determine the location of friends,
   enemies, and food sources.

Tusks

   The tusks of an elephant are its second upper incisors. Tusks grow
   continuously; an adult male's tusks will grow about seven inches a
   year. Tusks are indispensable to an elephant: they are used to dig for
   water, salt, and roots; to debark trees, to eat the bark; to dig into
   baobab trees to get at the pulp inside; and to move trees and branches
   when clearing a path. In addition, they are used for marking trees to
   establish territory and occasionally as weapons.

   Like humans who are typically right- or left-handed, elephants are
   usually right- or left-tusked. The dominant tusk, called the master
   tusk, is generally shorter and more rounded at the tip from wear. Both
   male and female African elephants have large tusks that can reach over
   10 ft (3 m) in length and weigh over 200 lb (90 kg). In the Asian
   species, only the males have large tusks. Female Asians have tusks
   which are very small or absent altogether. Asian males can have tusks
   as long as the much larger Africans, but they are usually much slimmer
   and lighter; the heaviest recorded is 86 lb (39 kg). The tusk of both
   species is mostly made of calcium phosphate in the form of apatite. As
   a piece of living tissue, it is relatively soft (compared with other
   minerals such as rock), and the tusk, also known as ivory, is strongly
   favoured by artisans for its carvability. The desire for elephant ivory
   has been one of the major factors in the dramatic decline of the
   world's elephant population.

   Some extinct relatives of elephants had tusks in their lower jaws also
   (e.g. Tetrabelodon), or instead (e.g. Dinotherium).

Teeth

   Elephants' teeth are very different from those of most other mammals.
   Over their lives they usually have 28 teeth. These are:
     * The two upper second incisors: these are the tusks.
     * The milk precursors of the tusks.
     * 12 premolars, 3 in each side of each jaw.
     * 12 molars, 3 in each side of each jaw.

   Unlike most mammals, which grow baby teeth and then replace them with a
   permanent set of adult teeth, elephants have cycles of tooth rotation
   throughout their entire life. After one year the tusks are permanent,
   but the other teeth are replaced five times in an elephant's life. The
   teeth do not emerge from the jaws vertically like with human teeth.
   Instead, they have a horizontal progression, like a conveyor belt. New
   teeth grow in at the back of the mouth, pushing older teeth toward the
   front, where they wear down with use and the remains fall out. When an
   elephant becomes very old, the last set of teeth is worn to stumps, and
   it must rely on softer foods to chew. Very elderly elephants often
   spend their last years exclusively in marshy areas where they can feed
   on soft wet grasses. Eventually, when the last teeth fall out, the
   elephant will be unable to eat and will die of starvation. Were it not
   for tooth wearout, their metabolism would allow them to live much
   longer. Rupert Sheldrake has proposed this as an explanation for the
   elephant graveyards. However, as more habitat is destroyed, the
   elephants' living space becomes smaller and smaller; the elderly no
   longer have the opportunity to roam in search of more appropriate food
   and will, consequently, die of starvation at an earlier age.

   Tusks in the lower jaw are also second incisors. These grew out large
   in Dinotherium and some mastodons, but in modern elephants they
   disappear early without erupting.

Skin

   Skin of an African elephant
   Enlarge
   Skin of an African elephant

   Elephants are called pachyderms, which means thick-skinned animals. An
   elephant's skin is extremely tough around most parts of its body and
   measures about 2.5 cm (1 in) thick. However, the skin around the mouth
   and inside of the ear is paper thin. Normally, the skin of an Asian is
   covered with more hair than its African counterpart. This is most
   noticeable in the young. Asian calves are usually covered with a thick
   coat of brownish red fuzz. As they get older, this hair darkens and
   becomes more sparse, but it will always remain on their heads and
   tails.

   The species of elephants are typically grayish in colour, but the
   Africans very often appear brown or reddish from wallowing in mud holes
   of coloured soil. Wallowing is actually a very important behaviour in
   elephant society. Not only is it important for socialization, but the
   mud acts as a sunscreen, protecting their skin from harsh ultraviolet
   radiation. Though tough, an elephant's skin is very sensitive. Without
   regular mud baths to protect it from burning, as well as from insect
   bites and moisture loss, an elephant's skin would suffer serious
   damage. After bathing, the elephant will usually use its trunk to blow
   dirt on its body to help dry and bake on its new protective coat. As
   elephants are limited to smaller and smaller areas, there is less water
   available, and local herds will often come too close over the right to
   use these limited resources.

   Wallowing also aids the skin in regulating body temperatures. Elephants
   spend every day fighting an uphill battle to stay cool. They have a
   very difficult time releasing heat through the skin because, in
   proportion to their body size, they have very little of it. The ratio
   of an elephant's mass to the surface area of its skin is many times
   that of a human. Elephants have even been observed lifting up their
   legs to expose the soles of their feet, presumably in an effort to
   expose more skin to the air. Since wild elephants live in very hot
   climates, they must have other means of getting rid of excess heat.

Legs and Feet

   Elephant using its feet to crush a watermelon prior to eating it
   Enlarge
   Elephant using its feet to crush a watermelon prior to eating it

   An elephant's legs are great straight pillars, as they must be to
   support its bulk. The elephant needs less muscular power to stand
   because of its straight legs. For this reason an elephant can stand for
   very long periods of time without tiring. In fact, African elephants
   rarely lie down unless they are sick or wounded. However, Indian
   elephants lie down frequently. Elephants are the only mammals to have
   four knees, most others either have two knees and two elbows, though
   the knees are often found in the front legs, or they have four elbows,
   like cats or dogs.

   The feet of an elephant are nearly round. African elephants have three
   nails on each hind foot, and four on each front foot. Indian elephants
   have four nails on each hind foot and five on each front foot. Beneath
   the bones of the foot is a tough, gelatine-like material that acts as a
   cushion or shock absorber. Under the elephant's weight the foot swells,
   but it gets smaller when the weight is removed. An elephant can sink
   deep into mud, but can pull its legs out readily because its feet
   become smaller when they are lifted.

   An elephant is a good swimmer and climber, but it can neither trot,
   run, jump, nor gallop. It has only one gait, a sort of gliding shuffle,
   which it can step up to the speed of a human sprinter. There are few
   animals that can travel farther in a day than the elephant.

Ears

   An Elephant sanctuary at Punnathur kotta, Kerala, south India.
   Enlarge
   An Elephant sanctuary at Punnathur kotta, Kerala, south India.

   The large flapping ears of an elephant are also very important for
   temperature regulation. Elephant ears are made of a very thin layer of
   skin stretched over cartilage and a rich network of blood vessels. On
   hot days, elephants will flap their ears constantly, creating a slight
   breeze. This breeze cools the surface blood vessels, and then the
   cooler blood gets circulated to the rest of the animal's body. The hot
   blood entering the ears can be cooled as much as ten degrees Fahrenheit
   before returning to the body. Differences in the ear sizes of African
   and Asian elephants can be explained, in part, by their geographical
   distribution. Africans originated and stayed near the equator, where it
   is warmer. Therefore, they have bigger ears. Asians live farther north,
   in slightly cooler climates, and thus have smaller ears.

   The ears are also used in certain displays of aggression and during the
   males' mating period. If an elephant wants to intimidate a predator or
   rival, it will spread its ears out wide to make itself look more
   massive and imposing. During the breeding season, males give off an
   odour from a gland located behind their eyes. Joyce Poole, a well-known
   elephant researcher, has theorized that the males will fan their ears
   in an effort to help propel this "elephant cologne" great distances.

   Walking at a normal pace an elephant covers about 2 to 4 miles an hour
   (3 to 6 km/h) but they can reach 24 miles an hour (40 km/h) at full
   speed.

Evolution

   Although the fossil evidence is uncertain, some scientists believe
   there is genetic evidence that the elephant family shares distant
   ancestry with the Sirenians (sea cows) and the hyraxes. In the distant
   past, members of the hyrax family grew to large sizes, and it seems
   likely that the common ancestor of all three modern families was some
   kind of amphibious hyracoid. One theory suggests that these animals
   spent most of their time under water, using their trunks like snorkels
   for breathing. Modern elephants have retained this ability and are
   known to swim in that manner for up to 6 hours and 50 km.

   In the past, there was a much wider variety of elephant genera,
   including the mammoths, stegodons and deinotheria. There was also a
   much wider variety of species.

Diet

   Asian Elephant eating a watermelon
   Enlarge
   Asian Elephant eating a watermelon

   Elephants are herbivores, spending 16 hours a day collecting plant
   food. Their diet is at least 50% grasses, supplemented with leaves,
   bamboo, twigs, bark, roots, and small amounts of fruits, seeds and
   flowers. Because elephants only digest 40% of what they eat, they have
   to make up for their digestive system's lack of efficiency in volume.
   An adult elephant can consume 300–600 lb (140–270 kg) of food a day.
   60% of that food leaves the elephant's body undigested.

Social behaviour

   Elephants live in a very structured social order. The social lives of
   male and female elephants are very different. The females spend their
   entire lives in tightly knit family groups made up of mothers,
   daughters, sisters, and aunts. These groups are led by the eldest
   female, or matriarch. Adult males, on the other hand, live mostly
   solitary lives.

   The social circle of the female elephant does not end with the small
   family unit. In addition to encountering the local males that live on
   the fringes of one or more groups, the female's life also involves
   interaction with other families, clans, and subpopulations. Most
   immediate family groups range from five to fifteen adults, as well as a
   number of immature males and females. When a group gets too big, a few
   of the elder daughters will break off and form their own small group.
   They remain very aware of which local herds are relatives and which are
   not.

   The life of the adult male is very different. As he gets older, he
   begins to spend more time at the edge of the herd, gradually going off
   on his own for hours or days at a time. Eventually, days become weeks,
   and somewhere around the age of fourteen, the mature male, or bull,
   sets out from his natal group for good. While males do live primarily
   solitary lives, they will occasionally form loose associations with
   other males. These groups are called bachelor herds. The males spend
   much more time than the females fighting for dominance with each other.
   Only the most dominant males will be permitted to breed with cycling
   females. The less dominant ones must wait their turn. It is usually the
   older bulls, forty to fifty years old, that do most of the breeding.
   The dominance battles between males can look very fierce, but typically
   they inflict very little injury. Most of the bouts are in the form of
   aggressive displays and bluffs. Ordinarily, the smaller, younger, and
   less confident animal will back off before any real damage can be done.
   However, during the breeding season, the battles can get extremely
   aggressive, and the occasional elephant is injured. During this season,
   known as musth, a bull will fight with almost any other male it
   encounters, and it will spend most of its time hovering around the
   female herds, trying to find a receptive mate.

Self-awareness

   From a study reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of
   Sciences, an Asian elephant housed at the Bronx Zoo in New York,
   repeatedly touched a white cross painted above its eye, when it saw
   this mark reflected in a large mirror. Another mark made on the
   forehead in colourless paint, was ignored, showing that it was not the
   smell or feeling which caused the interest. Elephants are among the
   very small number of species such as the great apes and Bottlenose
   Dolphins capable of self-recognition.

Homosexuality

   African, as well as Asiatic males will engage in same-sex bonding and
   mounting. Such encounters are often associated with affectionate
   interactions such as kissing, trunk intertwining or placing trunks in
   each other's mouth. The encounters are analogous to heterosexual bouts,
   one male often extending his trunk along the others back and pushing
   forward with his tusks to signify his intention to mount. Unlike
   heterosexual relations, which are always of a fleeting nature, often
   males will form a "companionship" consisting of an older individual and
   one or two younger attendant males. Same sex relations are common and
   frequent in both sexes, with Asiatic elephants in captivity devoting
   roughly 45% of sexual encounters to same-sex activity.

Communication

   It has been discovered that elephants can communicate over long
   distances by producing and receiving low frequency infrasound, a
   sub-sonic rumbling which can travel through the ground farther than
   sound travels in the air. This can be felt by the sensitive skin of an
   elephant's feet and trunk, which pick up the resonant vibrations in
   much the same way as the flat skin on the head of a drum. To listen
   attentively, the whole herd will lift one foreleg from the ground, and
   face the source of the sound, or often lay their trunks on the ground -
   the lifting presumably increases the ground contact and sensitivity of
   the remaining legs. This ability is thought to also aid their
   navigation by utilising external sources of infrasound. Discovery of
   this new aspect of elephant social communication and perception is due
   to breakthroughs in audio technology, which can pick up frequencies
   outside the range of the human ear. Pioneering research in elephant
   infrasound communication was done by Katy Payne of the Elephant
   Listening Project, and is detailed in her book Silent Thunder. Though
   this research is still in its infancy, it is helping to solve many
   prior mysteries such as how elephants can find distant potential mates,
   and how social groups are able to coordinate their movements over an
   extensive territory range.

Reproduction, calves, and calf rearing

Reproduction

   Females (cows) reach sexual maturity at around 9-12 years of age and
   become pregnant for the first time, on average, around age 13. They can
   reproduce until ages 55-60. Females give birth at intervals of about
   every 5 years. An elephant's gestation (pregnancy) period lasts about
   22 months (630-660 days), the longest gestation period of any mammal,
   after which one calf typically is born. Twins are rare. Labor ranges in
   length from 5 minutes to 60 hours. The average length of labor is 11
   hours. At birth, calves weigh around 90–115 kg (200–250 lb), and they
   gain 1 kg (2–2.5 lb) a day. In the wild, the mother is accompanied by
   other adult females (aunts) that protect the young, and baby elephants
   are raised and nurtured by the whole family group, practically from the
   moment they are born.

Motherhood and calf rearing

     * The first sound a newborn calf usually makes is a sneezing or
       snorting sound to clear its nasal passages of fluids. (In the first
       few minutes after a captive birth, the keepers must monitor the
       calf closely for the first sound or movement. Whichever happens
       first, the mother typically responds to her new baby with surprise
       and excitement.)
     * With the help of its mother, a newborn calf usually struggles to
       its feet within 30 minutes of birth. For support, it will often
       lean on its mother's legs.
     * A newborn calf usually stands within one hour and is strong enough
       to follow its mother in a slow-moving herd within a few days.
     * Unlike most mammals, female elephants have a single pair of mammary
       glands located just behind the front legs. When born, a calf is
       about 3 ft (90 cm) high, just tall enough to reach its mother's
       nipples.
     * A calf suckles with its mouth, not its trunk, which has no muscle
       tone. To clear the way to its mouth so it can suckle, the calf will
       flop its trunk onto its forehead.
     * A newborn calf suckles for only a few minutes at a time but will
       suckle many times per day, consuming up to 11 litres (3 gallons) of
       milk in a single day.
     * A calf may nurse for up to 2 years of age or older. Complete
       weaning depends on the disposition of the mother, the amount of
       available milk, and the arrival of another calf.
     * Newborn calves learn primarily by observing adults, not from
       instinct. For example, a calf learns how to use its trunk by
       watching older elephants using their trunks.
     * It takes several months for a calf to control the use of its trunk.
       This can be observed as the calf trips over its trunk or as the
       trunk wiggles like a rubbery object when the calf shakes its head.

Elephant calves

   Elephant social life, in many ways, revolves around breeding and
   raising of the calves. A female will usually be ready to breed around
   the age of thirteen, at which time she will seek out the most
   attractive male to mate with. Females are generally attracted to
   bigger, stronger, and, most importantly, older males. Such a
   reproductive strategy tends to increase their offsprings' chances of
   survival.

   After a twenty-two-month pregnancy, the mother will give birth to a
   calf that will weigh about 250 lb and stand over 2½ feet tall.
   Elephants have a very long childhood. They are born with fewer survival
   instincts than many other animals. Instead, they must rely on their
   elders to teach them the things they need to know. The ability to pass
   on information and knowledge to their young has always been a major
   asset in the elephant's struggle to survive. Today, however, the
   pressures humans have put on the wild elephant populations, from
   poaching to habitat destruction, mean that the elderly often die at a
   younger age, leaving fewer teachers for the young.

   All members of the tightly knit female group participate in the care
   and protection of the young. Since everyone in the herd is related,
   there is never a shortage of baby-sitters. In fact, a new calf is
   usually the centre of attention for all herd members. All the adults
   and most of the other young will gather around the newborn, touching
   and caressing it with their trunks. The baby is born nearly blind and
   at first relies, almost completely, on its trunk to discover the world
   around it.

Allomothers

   After the initial excitement dies down, the mother will usually select
   several full-time baby-sitters, or "allomothers", from her group.
   According to Cynthia Moss, a well-known researcher, these allomothers
   will help in all aspects of raising the calf. They walk with the young
   as the herd travels, helping the calves along if they fall or get stuck
   in the mud. The more allomothers a baby has, the more free time its
   mother has to feed herself. Providing a calf with nutritious milk means
   the mother has to eat more nutritious food herself. So, the more
   allomothers, the better the calf's chances of survival.

Effect on the environment

   Elephants' foraging activities help to maintain the areas in which they
   live:
     * By pulling down trees to eat leaves, breaking branches, and pulling
       out roots they create clearings in which new young trees and other
       vegetation grow to provide future nutrition for elephants and other
       organisms.
     * Elephants make pathways through the environment that are used by
       other animals to access areas normally out of reach. The pathways
       have been used by several generations of elephants, and today
       people are converting many of them to paved roads.
     * During the dry season elephants use their tusks to dig into dry
       river beds to reach underground sources of water. These newly dug
       water holes may become the only source of water in the area.
     * Elephants are a species which many other organisms depend on. For
       example, termites eat elephant feces and often begin building
       termite mounds under piles of elephant feces.

Threat of extinction

   The threat to the African elephant presented by the ivory trade is
   unique to the species. Another threat to elephant's survival in general
   is the ongoing cultivation of their habitats with increasing risk of
   conflicts of interest with human cohabitants. These conflicts kill 150
   elephants and up to 100 people per year in Sri Lanka. Lacking the
   massive tusks of its African cousins, the Asian elephant's demise can
   be attributed mostly to loss of its habitat.

   As larger patches of forest disappear, the ecosystem is affected in
   profound ways. The trees are responsible for anchoring soil and
   absorbing water runoff. Floods and massive erosion are common results
   of deforestation. Elephants need massive tracts of land because, much
   like the slash-and-burn farmers, they are used to crashing through the
   forest, tearing down trees and shrubs for food and then cycling back
   later on, when the area has regrown. As forests are reduced to small
   pockets, elephants become part of the problem, quickly destroying all
   the vegetation in an area, eliminating all their resources.

   Larger, long-lived, slow-breeding animals, like the elephant, are more
   susceptible to overhunting than other animals. They cannot hide, and it
   takes many years for an elephant to grow and reproduce. An elephant
   needs an average of 300 lb (140 kg) of vegetation a day to survive. As
   large predators are hunted, the local small grazer populations (the
   elephant's food competitors) find themselves on the rise. The increased
   number of herbivores ravage the local trees, shrubs, and grasses.

   However, despite all the fears of extinction, some scholars claim that
   the elephant population of Africa as a whole has actually increased
   over the past ten years, most notably in Botswana, which currently is
   experiencing elephant overpopulation.

National parks

   An elephant in the Ngorongoro crater, Tanzania.
   Enlarge
   An elephant in the Ngorongoro crater, Tanzania.

   Africa's first official reserve eventually became one of the world's
   most famous and successful national parks. Kruger National Park in
   South Africa first became a reserve against great opposition in 1898
   (then Sabi Reserve). It was deproclaimed and reproclaimed several times
   before it was renamed and granted national park status in 1926. It was
   to be the first of many.

   Of course, there were many problems in establishing these reserves. For
   example, elephants range through a wide tract of land with little
   regard for national borders. however, when most parks were created, the
   boundaries were drawn at the human-made borders of individual
   countries. Once a fence was erected, many animals found themselves cut
   off from their winter feeding grounds or spring breeding areas. Some
   animals died as a result, while some, like the elephants, just trampled
   through the fences. This did little to belie their image as a
   crop-raiding pest. The more often an elephant wandered off its reserve,
   the more trouble it got into, and the more chance it had of being shot
   by an angry farmer. When confined to small territories, elephants can
   inflict an enormous amount of damage to the local landscapes. Today
   there are still many problems associated with these parks and reserves,
   but there is now little question as to whether or not they are
   necessary. As scientists learn more about nature and the environment,
   it becomes very clear that these parks may be the elephant's last hope
   against the rapidly changing world around them.

   Additionally, Kruger National Park has suffered from elephant
   overcrowding, at the expense of other species of wildlife within the
   reserve. South Africa slaughtered 14,562 elephants in the reserve
   between 1967 and 1994; it stopped in 1995, mostly due to international
   and local pressure. Without action, it is predicted that the elephant
   population in Kruger National Park will triple to 34,000 by 2020.

Humanity and elephants

Harvest from the wild

   The harvest of elephants, both legal and illegal, has had some
   unexpected consequences on elephant anatomy as well. African ivory
   hunters, by killing only tusked elephants, have given a much larger
   chance of mating to elephants with small tusks or no tusks at all. The
   propagation of the absent-tusk gene has resulted in the birth of large
   numbers of tuskless elephants, now approaching 30% in some populations
   (compare with a rate of about 1% in 1930). Tusklessness, once a very
   rare genetic abnormality, has become a widespread hereditary trait.

   It is possible, if unlikely, that continued selection pressure could
   bring about a complete absence of tusks in African elephants, a
   development normally requiring thousands of years of evolution. The
   effect of tuskless elephants on the environment, and on the elephants
   themselves, could be dramatic. Elephants use their tusks to root around
   in the ground for necessary minerals, tear apart vegetation, and spar
   with one another for mating rights. Without tusks, elephant behaviour
   could change dramatically.

Domestication and use

   Left to right - African Savannah Elephant Loxodonta africana, born
   1969, and Asian Elephant Elephas maximus, born 1970, at an English zoo.
   Enlarge
   Left to right - African Savannah Elephant Loxodonta africana, born
   1969, and Asian Elephant Elephas maximus, born 1970, at an English zoo.

   Elephants have been working animals used in various capacities by
   humans. Seals found in the Indus Valley suggest that the elephant was
   first domesticated in ancient India. However, elephants have never been
   truly domesticated: the male elephant in his periodic condition of
   musth is dangerous and difficult to control. Therefore elephants used
   by humans have typically been female, war elephants being an exception,
   however: as female elephants in battle will run from a male, only males
   could be used in war. It is generally more economical to capture wild
   young elephants and tame them than breeding them in captivity (see also
   elephant "crushing").

   War elephants were used by armies in the Indian sub-continent, and
   later by the Persian empire. This use was adopted by Hellenistic armies
   after Alexander the Great experienced their worth against king Porus,
   notably in the Ptolemaic and Seleucid diadoch empires. The Carthaginian
   general Hannibal took elephants across the Alps when he was fighting
   the Romans, but brought too few elephants to be of much military use,
   although his horse cavalry was quite successful; he probably used a
   now-extinct third African (sub)species, the North African (Forest)
   elephant, smaller than its two southern cousins, and presumably easier
   to domesticate. A large elephant in full charge could cause tremendous
   damage to infantry, and cavalry horses would be afraid of them (see
   Battle of Hydaspes).

   Throughout Siam, India, and most of South Asia elephants were used in
   the military for heavy labor, especially for uprooting trees and moving
   logs, and were also commonly used as executioners to crush the
   condemned underfoot.
   Elephant footprints (tire tracks for scale)
   Enlarge
   Elephant footprints (tire tracks for scale)

   Elephants have also been used as mounts for safari-type hunting,
   especially Indian shikar (mainly on tigers), and as ceremonial mounts
   for royal and religious occasions, whilst Asian elephants have been
   used for transport and entertainment, and are common to circuses around
   the world.

   African elephants have long been reputed to not be domesticable, but
   some entrepreneurs have succeeded by bringing Asian mahouts from Sri
   Lanka to Africa. In Botswana, Uttum Corea has been working with African
   elephants and has several young tame elephants near Gaborone. African
   elephants are more temperamental than Asian elephants, but are easier
   to train. Because of their more sensitive temperaments, they require
   different training methods than Asian elephants and must be trained
   from infancy hence Corea worked with orphaned elephants. African
   elephants are now being used for (photo) safaris. Corea's elephants are
   also used to entertain tourists and haul logs.

   Elephants are also commonly exhibited in zoos and wild animal parks,
   the former of which has caused controversy. Animal rights advocates
   allege that elephants in zoos "suffer a life of chronic physical
   ailments, social deprivation, emotional starvation, and premature
   death". However, zoos argue that standards for treatment of elephants
   are extremely high and that minimum requirements for such things as
   minimum space requirements, enclosure design, nutrition, reproduction,
   enrichment and veterinary care are set to ensure the wellbeing of
   elephants in captivity.

Elephant traps

   Another more effective method is practiced in the Indian Subcontinent
   which is far less physical and brutal, and more psychological. It is
   called the "elephant trap". The following is taken from a newsletter:

          From when an elephant is a baby they tie him for certain periods
          with a rope to a tree. The young elephant tries his hardest to
          escape, he pulls and wriggles and jumps and crawls yet the rope
          just tightens and to the tree it remains tied. Learning that,
          the elephant doesn’t try to escape and accepts his confinement.
          A couple of years pass and the elephant is now an adult weighing
          several tons. Yet the trainer continues to tie the elephant to
          the tree with the same rope he’s always used, for the simple
          reason that the elephant has the concept in his mind that the
          rope is stronger than him. Abiding to this conditioning the
          elephant is trapped for life. To break free all the elephant has
          to do is erase that limiting thought for in fact he is free to
          go.

Elephants in culture

     * George Orwell wrote a famous essay entitled " Shooting an
       Elephant," chronicling a 1926 episode of being forced to shoot an
       elephant while he served as an Imperial Policeman in Burma.

Pop culture

     * Jumbo, a circus elephant, has entered the English language as a
       synonym for "large".
     * Dumbo, the elephant who learns to fly in the Disney movie of the
       same name.
     * The French children's storybook character Babar the Elephant (an
       elephant king) created by Jean de Brunhoff and also an animated TV
       series.
     * Tufts University mascot is Jumbo, the Elephant.
     * University of Alabama Crimson Tide mascot is an elephant called
       "Big Al." The name was chosen in the late 1970s in a campus-wide
       contest.
     * The Oakland Athletics mascot is a white elephant. The story of
       picking the mascot was started when New York Giants' manager John
       McGraw told reporters that Philadelphia manufacturer Benjamin
       Shibe, who owned the controlling interest in the new team, had a
       “white elephant on his hands," Connie Mack defiantly adopted the
       white elephant as the team mascot, though over the years the
       elephant has appeared in several different colors (currently forest
       green). The A’s are sometimes, though infrequently, referred to as
       the Elephants or White Elephants. The team mascot is nicknamed
       Stomper.
     * The Elephant's Child is one of Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories.
     * The Thai Elephant Orchestra, a musical instrument playing group of
       Elephants from the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre in Lampang.
     * Joseph Merrick, a British man in Victorian England, who suffered
       from substantial deformities, and was nicknamed " The Elephant Man"
       due to the nature and extent of his condition.
     * The fictional planet in Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels consists
       of a flat disc-shaped world carried on the backs of four elephants
       who ride through space on a space turtle, Great A'Tuin.
     * In one episode of The Simpsons, Bart Simpson wins a bad-tempered
       elephant in a radio competition, which he names Stampy. The family
       eventually give up the elephant after it proves too expensive to
       feed.
     * American band the White Stripes' fourth album was entitled
       Elephant, possibly because of lead singer Jack White's fondness of
       the animals' extreme sensitivity toward each other. The album was
       #390 in Rolling Stone magazine's "500 Best Albums of All Time."
     * The Thai movie Tom-Yum-Goong (US title: " The Protector", UK title:
       "Warrior King") is about a man named Kham who travels from Thailand
       to Australia in pursuit of poachers who have stolen two elephants.
       Kham is a member of a family that protects the elephants of the
       King of Thailand. The movie was directed by Prachya Pinkaew and
       stars Tony Jaa.

   Esala Perahera in Kandy, Sri Lanka
   Enlarge
   Esala Perahera in Kandy, Sri Lanka

Religion and philosophy

   An elephant carrying Thidambu during Thrissur Pooram festival in
   Kerala, south India
   Enlarge
   An elephant carrying Thidambu during Thrissur Pooram festival in
   Kerala, south India
     * The scattered skulls of prehistoric pygmy elephants on Crete,
       featuring a single large nasal cavity at the front, may have formed
       the basis of belief in existence of cyclops, the one-eyed giants
       featured in Homer's Odyssey.
     * A white elephant is considered holy in Thailand.
     * Ganesh, the Hindu god of wisdom, has an elephant's head.
     * Elephants are used in festivals in Sri Lanka, such as the Esala
       Perahera.
     * Temple elephant
     * Guruvayur Keshavan famous temple elephant in Kerala, India
     * The story of the Blind Men and an Elephant was written to show how
       reality may be viewed by different perspectives. Its source is
       unknown, but it appears to have originated in India. It has been
       attributed to Buddhists, Hindus, Jainists, and Sufis.
     * In Judeo-Christian accounts, including Midrash on the sixth chapter
       of the apocryphal book of 1 Maccabees, the youngest of the
       Hasmonean brothers, Eleazar the Maccabee stuck a spear under the
       foot of an elephant carrying an important Greek-Assyrian general,
       killing the elephant, the general, and Eleazar.

Politics and secular symbolism

     * After Alexander's victory over the Indian king Porus, the captured
       war elephants became a symbol of imperial power, used as an emblem
       of the Seleucid diadoch empire, e.g. on coins.
     * The elephant, and the white elephant (also a religious symbol of
       Buddha) in particular, has often been used as a symbol of royal
       power and prestige in Asia; occurring on the flag of the kingdom
       Laos (three visible, supporting an umbrella, another symbol of
       royal power) till it became a republic in 1975, and other
       Indochinese and Thai realms had also displayed one or more white
       elephants.
     * The elephant is also the symbol for the Republican Party of the
       United States, originating in an 1874 cartoon of an Asian elephant
       by Thomas Nast of Harper's Weekly (Nast also originated the donkey
       as the symbol of the Democratic Party).
     * See also the Danish royal Order of the Elephant.

Elephant rage

Musth

   Adult male elephants naturally enter the periodic state called musth
   (Hindi for madness), sometimes spelt "must" in English. It is
   characterised by very excited and/or aggressive behaviour and a thick,
   tar-like liquid secretion that discharges through the temporal ducts
   from the temporal glands on the sides of the head. Musth is linked to
   sexual arousal or establishing dominance but this relationship is far
   from clear. A musth elephant, wild or domesticated, is extremely
   dangerous to humans. Domesticated elephants in India are traditionally
   tied to a tree and denied food and water for several days, after which
   the musth passes. In zoos, musth is often the cause of fatal accidents
   to elephant keepers. Zoos keeping adult male elephants need extremely
   secure enclosures, which greatly complicates the attempts to breed
   elephants in zoos.

   Musth is accompanied by a significant rise in reproductive hormones.
   Testosterone levels in an elephant in musth can be as much as 60 times
   greater than in the same elephant at other times. However, whether this
   hormonal surge is the sole cause of musth, or merely a contributing
   factor is unknown: scientific investigation of musth is greatly
   hindered by the fact that even the most otherwise placid of elephants
   may actively try to kill any and all humans. Similarly, the tar-like
   secretion remains largely uncharacterised, due to the extreme
   difficulties of collecting a sample for analysis.

   Although it has often been speculated that musth is linked to rut, this
   is unlikely, because the female elephant's estrus cycle is not
   seasonally-linked. Furthermore, bulls in musth have often been known to
   attack female elephants, regardless of whether or not the females are
   in heat.

   The Hindi word "musth" is from the Urdu mast, which in turn is from a
   Persian root meaning 'intoxicated'.

   The Channel 5 British television program "The Dark Side of Elephants"
   (20 March 2006) stated that during musth:
     * The swelling of the temporal glands presses on the elephant's eyes
       and causes the elephant severe pain like severe root abscess
       toothache. One elephant behaviour that tries to counteract this is
       digging the tusks in the ground.
     * The musth secretion, which naturally runs down into the elephant's
       mouth, is full of ketones and aldehydes and (to a person at least)
       tastes unbelievably foul.
     * As a result, musth behaviour is at least partly due to the elephant
       being driven mad by pain and distress.

Other causes

   At least a few elephants have been suspected to be drunk during their
   attacks. In December 1998, a herd of elephants overran a village in
   India. Although locals reported that nearby elephants had recently been
   observed drinking beer which rendered them "unpredictable", officials
   considered it the least likely explanation for the attack. An attack on
   another Indian village occurred in October 1999, and again locals
   believed the reason was drunkenness, but the theory was not widely
   accepted. Purportedly drunk elephants raided yet another Indian village
   again on December 2002, killing six people, which lead to slaughter of
   about 200 elephants by locals.

Rogue elephant

   Rogue elephant is a term for a lone, violently aggressive wild
   elephant, separated from the rest of the herd. It is a calque of the
   Sinhala term hora aliya. Its introduction to English has been
   attributed by the Oxford English Dictionary to Sir James Emerson
   Tennant, but this usage may have been pre-dated by William Sirr.

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