Hey! Do we need an introduction? Probably every human in the world knows us. We are the Asian Elephants. Since we are mostly found in India, we are also called as Indian Elephants. We are a huge animal and there is also a huge amount of information about us.
Here are few important facts about us:
- Despite our size, we are herbivores. The amount of food that we eat is huge (about 150kg a day).
- We cannot jump but we can run and climb hills easily. Our average speed is 36 mph.
- Do you know? We are one of the intelligent species on earth. We have complicated social behavior and we really cry a lot if one of us dies!
- Our tusks are very valuable and for this we were killed a lot. You might know the famous south Indian smuggler Veerappan. He used to smuggle our tusks and was later killed by police.
- We are very sacred in India. Lord Ganesh is a quite famous as a Hindu god. He has a humanoid figure with human body and elephant head.
- We play a prominent role in Hindu festivals. We are decorated with various ornaments and are exhibited. We are tamed by the handlers and in their care and perform various feats. Notably, we also perform in many circuses around the world.
- From ancient times, we play an important role in various stories, epics, and myths like Panchatantra tales, Buddhist Jataka Tales, etc.
- In southeastern Asia, we are one of the zodiac signs.
- Though not famous, there is also a sport called Elephant Polo played in our range.
- You must have definitely seen us somewhere if you are from India. You must have ridden on our backs too.
SOME QUICK NOTES:
Our Scientific Name: Elephas Maximus Indicus.
Our Identification: Very huge and black animal with long trunk as a nose.
Our Habitat: grasslands, dry deciduous, moist deciduous, evergreen and semi-evergreen forests.
Our Range:
Our Food habits: Herbivorous; feed on malvales, and the legumes, palm, sedges and various grasses.
Our Breeding Period: Any time around the year.
Our Gestation Period: 18-23 months.
Number of cubs born: 1
Lifespan: 60-70 years
Estimated Population: about 42,000
IUCN red list status: Endangered.
CITES: Appendix I
Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Schedule I
SCIENTIFIC CLASSIFICATION:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chodata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Proboscidea
Family: Elephantidae
Genus: Elephas
Species: E.maximus
Subspecies: E.m.indicus
COMPLETE DETAILS ABOUT US FOR ANIMAL ENTHUSIASTS:
We are one of the three recognized subspecies of the Asian elephant and native to mainland Asia.
Elephants are scientifically called as Elephas Maximus Indicus.
HOW WE LOOK:
Do you know? we are one of the large mammals to exist in the world. Notably, we are smaller than African elephants. We are huge animals with four limbs and a small tail compared to our size.
With dark black in color, we are about 2m- 3.5m tall and weigh from 2000 kg to 5000 kg.
We have an additional limb called trunk above is an extension of upper lip and nose. Males and females of our species look alike but the males have two extended teeth called tusks coming out from the mouth.
The female is smaller than the male. The young ones of our species look like females.
WE ARE FOUND IN:
We usually live in grasslands, dry deciduous, moist deciduous, evergreen and semi-evergreen forests. We can be seen in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand, Malay Peninsula, Laos, China, Cambodia, and Vietnam. We are regionally extinct in Pakistan.
In India, we are found in Northwest (Himalayas, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh), Northeast (West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur), Central part (Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh) and almost most parts of South India.
WHAT WE EAT:
We can be called as a mega-herbivore as we eat up-to 150 kg of plants and grasses a day. We browse as well as graze.
We commonly eat plants of the order Malvales, and the legume, palm, sedge and various grass families.
We graze on the tall grasses, but the amount we eat varies with season. In April, when grasses grow more than half a meter, we uproot these grasses and dust them skilfully and eat them.
In autumn, we eat the base side of the roots. In the dry season, we eat leaves, twigs and fresh foliage. We also eat the bark of white thorn, flowering plants and fruits like apple, tamarind, date palm and bananas
OUR REPRODUCTION:
The male elephant lives in small groups whereas female lives with young elephants. We have good social bonds. Male-male competition is present, and the female selects its mate. We breed once every 4-5 years.
The gestation period is usually 18-23 months. The female gives birth to a single offspring. The offspring weighs about 100kg at birth.
The young elephant is dependent on our mother for 2 years and leaves its mother after 4 years. Both male and female elephant becomes sexually active at 10-15 years of age.
The expected lifespan of us is about 60-70 years both in wild and captivity.
MORE ABOUT US:
We move and live on the ground with our fastest speed being 32 kmph.
Though We can’t jump, we can climb hills very easily.
We are excellent swimmers and are able to completely submerge in water just leaving our trunk out.
We eat almost 10% of our body mass and spend 12 to 18 hours a day searching for and eating food.
Since we have a huge body, we have to cool our body regularly. Trunk plays a major role in spraying water on our body and also flap our ears to get rid of heat.
We have a very developed brain and also a complicated social behaviour.
We are also domesticated by humans and are treated highly and respectively in India as we have become a part of Indian Culture.
OUR CONSERVATION:
We are listed as “endangered” species in the IUCN Red List. We are also listed on CITES Appendix I. In India, Project Elephant was launched in 1992 by the government of India, Ministry of Environment and forests to provide financial and technical support for wildlife management.
The reason for this decrease in our population is due to extreme hunting and killing for ivory and tusks by various smugglers.
Project elephant ensures the long-term survival of these populations and also support the research of ecology and management of us, provide awareness to people, and provide veterinary care. There are about 31,400 elephants in India including me and about 42,000 across Asia.
