The Plight of the Asian Elephants

Elephants and man have lived and worked alongside each other for centuries but this relationship is now in a state of flux. In particular, the Asian Elephant is now considered to be an endangered species. The impact is visible in Laos, once known as the 'Land of a Million Elephants', is now home to little over a thousand Elephants. According to the organization Elephant Family 'in another 30 years they could just vanish all together'.

How and why did this happen? There are a number of reasons:-

Loss of habitat is one reason. As civilization and industries expand, the Elephants natural jungle and forest homes have been shrinking at a rapid rate. In the fight for the land there have been injuries on both sides. The end result is that the Elephant herds, in some areas, have their pathway to food and water sources cut off. In some cases Elephants can be cut off from their herds. Neither result is a positive one for the Elephants.

Lack of breeding is another. As Elephants are worked to near exhaustion there is little time or inclination for them to breed and this is obviously directly impacting the number of Elephants. In addition the gestation and rearing of the baby calf can take between four to five years, having a 'worker' out of action for this length of time is not affordable to most farmers. With little breeding the number of Elephants will continue to dwindle and extinction would seem to be a likely outcome if not addressed.

We know the problem but what is being done to address this issue?

In Laos, an organization called the 'Elephant Conservation Center' has been established to address the breeding issue. At the Elephant Conservation Center pregnant Elephants return home to an idyllic jungle setting where they can be cared for. The gestation period for an Elephant is 22 months, so to encourage the farmers to rest their Elephants, the farmer is lent a hand tractor to do the work of the Elephant.

Following the birth the mother cares for the calf for up to three years. Both mother and calf are able to stay at the Conservation Center for another two years to assist to maintain the good health of both the mother and calf. The Elephants handler, or mahout, lives at the Elephant Conservation Center with the Elephants and are paid a salary for up to four years.

The Center is not only offering a breeding program for the Lao Elephant but it is also encouraging the farmers to rest their elephants, which also helps with breeding. This is a great step forward in resolving the plight of the Asian Elephant.

I love Elephants, do you?

For the past few year Gai has traveled the world photographing and writing about her experience. There has been a lot of fun along the way and a few mishaps also, but it is always fun. Read more about Laos where Gai visited the Elephant Conservation Center in 201109, there photo gallery is also that you may enjoy here.

Rainforest Animals - Asian Elephant

Asian Elephant

Scientific Name:

Elephas maximus

Status:

Endangered

Scientific Classification:

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Mammalia

Order: Proboscidea

Family: Elephantidae

Genus: Elephas

Species: E. maximus

General Information:

The Asian elephant is one of three recognized extant species of the family elephantidae; the other two are the African forest elephant and the African bush elephant. It is also the largest terrestrial mammal in Asia. This hullking animal once patrolled vast stretches of Asia in abundance, but today is an endangered species confined to a few select regions of South and Southeast Asia. It is estimated that there are only between 25,600 and 32,750 individuals remaining in the wild. The Asian elephant has also become prominent as a domestic creature, assisting in industry as a beast of burden and also fulfilling tourist and traditional roles. In military history, the Asian elephant has been a presence upon a many battlefields, used for combat from the days of Ancient India through the era of Alexander the Great and into the days of the Moguls.

Physical Description:

Asian elephants are generally smaller than their African bush counterparts. Asian elephants differ from their African cousins with their smaller ears and different cranial structure. Also, while both male and female African elephants have long tusks, only the male Asian elephant has visible tusks; the female Asian elephant's tusks are so short they are pratically not visible. There are four currently recognized subspecies of Asian elephant: the Indian elephant (E. m. indicus), the Sri Lanka elephant (E. m. maximus), the Sumatran elephant (E. m. sumatrensis), and the newly classified Borneo elephant (E. m. borneensis). Of the four subspecies, the smallest is the Borneo elephant, also known as the Borneo pygmy elephant (which also bears the recognition of being the tamest of the four as well). The largest is the Sri Lankan elephant, closely followed by the Indian elephant. Although both races can reach heights of a bit over 11 feet, the Sri Lankan elephant has a heavier weight of up to 12,000 lbs.

Diet:

Elephants are voracious eaters, consuming about 10% of their body weight in food each day. It also requires 80 - 200 liters of water daily as well. It feeds on a wide array of vegetation, preferring grasses but also eating leaves, roots, banks, and vines.

Habitat:

Elephants primarily occur in scrub forests, but are also found along forest edges where more open and grassy areas are available. They range from India, Nepal, and Bangladesh to Sri Lanka and throughout portions of Indochina. It is also found in parts of Indonesia.

Reproduction:

Females are capable of giving birth about every 4 - 6 years, and can birth about 7 calves per lifetime. Gestation lasts for approximately 19 - 22 months. Mothers, grandmothers, sisters, and aunts all help in raising the young.

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Helping Abused and Orphaned Asian Elephants

Helping elephants is something that anyone who has a genuine interest in nature and the environment should try to do if they would like to help protect these beautiful animals and keep them from becoming extinct. Because of their habitats and the circumstances that they can encounter, Asian elephants often end up injured, abused, and orphaned. When this happens, they need human help to get them back to health and let them go back into the wild to try to survive on their own. Understanding how Asian elephants become injured, abused, and orphaned can help you to understand why helping elephants is so important.

Elephant Injuries

Elephants can sustain fairly serious injuries for a number of reasons. Males who are fighting for females during mating season can get hurt seriously due to the aggression displayed during breeding. If Asian elephants migrate into an area where there are land mines or other weapons, they may be injured with an explosion that burns their bodies or causes them to lose body parts. Other injuries may be sustained if an elephant is sick and can't get around as well as it normally does.

Elephant Abuse

Elephants can be abused by the people who keep them in captivity. Asian elephants that are kept in captivity are often subjected to horrific abuse from the people keeping them. They can be whipped and beaten and have punishments inflicted on them to make them behave or do what their owners want them to do. This abuse results in serious injuries and may make an elephant behave differently as a psychological response.

Orphaned Elephants

Orphaned elephants are young elephants that lose their mothers. This can happen if a mother elephant is critically injured or dies after her calf has been born. When orphaned elephants are too young to survive on their own, they need intervention from humans so that they can survive until they are old enough to go back into the wild and do it on their own.

Helping Asian Elephants

Helping elephants takes a lot of hard work by volunteers all over the world. While some volunteers work directly with the elephants at shelters and orphanages, there are also people all over the world who are raising money to keep these shelters going and working to make sure as many elephants can be helped as possible. Elephant orphanages have opened in Sri Lanka and other areas so that Asian elephants can be helped as much as possible. These orphanages are staffed by volunteers who work directly with the elephants. The elephants are kept in pens, so these pens must be cleaned each day. This means removing the elephant dung on a daily basis. These volunteers also bathe orphaned elephant calves, feed the elephants, and care for their injuries. As the elephants get stronger, they may be able to go back into the wild and try to survive on their own.

Helping elephants is an important cause that everyone should know more about. Do some research and you'll see how important it is to help Asian elephants.

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How Are We Helping Asian Elephants?

The Asian elephant is a magnificent animal, one, which has special significance for people all over the world. Weighing up to 5 tonnes and standing at a height of up to 3 metres they are the largest land animals in Asia with very few natural predators.

However due to a combination of pollution, encroachment and habitat destruction resulting from human activity, Conservationists believe there are now less than 30,000 Asian elephants left in the wild. Therefore this majestic animal which once roamed right across Asia finds itself on the endangered species list, meaning it faces the threat of extinction in the near future.

The Conservation Effort

The main focus of the conservation effort is on the elephants' habitat. Over recent years intensive logging and farming have resulted in huge swathes of forest leaving less than 15% of the original area. Ironically in some parts of Asia it is the elephants themselves that are used (by humans) to pull the huge logs out of the forest to be transported away.

Conservation charities have been working hard with local communities to halt the devastation. For example in Thailand, the superstitions of the Buddhist communities have been utilised as a way of saving the elephants of Chiang Mai province. By tying brightly coloured Buddhist cloth around trees, they are saved from being cut down because people believe that bad luck would result. This seemingly small program has proved extremely effective despite only being introduced a few years ago.

Green Shoots

As well as preventing trees from being cut down, conservationists have been planting new hard wood trees. These fast growing trees will help replenish the rainforest quicker so that Thailand's elephants can once again enjoy a larger area. Plans are also being developed to take similar programs across Asia to give back the natural environment.

Utilising Modern Technology

Modern technology such as chainsaws, heavy land moving equipment etc is largely responsible for the devastation to the rainforests but through the use of other modern technology conservationists hope to get ahead in their efforts to save the Asian elephant.

GPS trackers allow scientists and researcher to follow herds of wild elephants through the forests so they can gain a better understanding of their movements. Computer generated land models can be used to identify areas where the elephants could live and develop so their numbers are allowed to grow once more.

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Supporting conservation projects worldwide so that the magnificent Asian elephant has a chance of survival. Without our help this species which has roamed the earth for almost 7 million years could become extinct within the century.

The Two Species of Elephants & Their Differences

The two species of elephants are the Asian and the African elephants. There are distinctive differences between the two, which are highlighted below:

The African elephant is termed scientifically as Loxodonta africana and weighs between 4,000 and 7,000 kilograms. At shoulder height, the elephant can stand anywhere between 3 and 4 metres tall. Its skin has a more wrinkled appearance than that of the Asian elephant. It also has 21 pairs of ribs and its highest point is at the shoulder. The African elephant is easily recognised by its ears, which fan out in a distinctive shape over its shoulders and neck.

The shape of the African elephant's back is concave and the shape of its belly runs diagonally downwards towards its hind legs. The shape of its head is flattened on top, not crumpled and shows no visible humps or dents. The profile of the African elephant's molars are diamond shaped and the tusks are prevalent in both sexes, but larger in the males. The lower lip is short and round, the trunk more ringed and softer, and the trunk end has two fingers.

The Asian elephant weighs between 3,000 and 6,000kg and stands at a height of 2 - 3.5 metres. It has 20 pairs of ribs and has its highest point on the back, which is usually convex or straight. Its ears are much smaller than the African variety and the belly is either straight or sags slightly in the middle.

The head has a more crumpled appearance with a dent in the middle of the scull. The lower lip is long and tapered and the trunk has less rings and is harder, ending in one finger instead of two like African elephants. An interesting fact is that the two species cannot be interbred because of their vast genetic differences.

Find out more about Asian Elephants, including the Asian Elephant's endangered status.

Fun Facts For Elephant Lovers

Elephants are the largest land mammals in the world today. They can reach a height of 13 feet and can weigh an astonishing 15,000 pounds, that's just about the same weight or more of an average school bus! The average lifespan of an elephant is 60 - 70 years old. African and Asian elephants are the only 2 surviving species. The two different species resemble each other from a distance but up close they are very different. You can easily see the difference in the size of the ears. African elephants have ears that can reach up and over their heads. The Asian elephant ears are much smaller and do not reach over the head. African elephants are also much larger in size and weigh more than the Asian elephant. Elephants do not have enemies because predators can easily be crushed by the mammals large size. Unfortunately, their little ones are usually the ones that get attacked by lions, hyenas, and tigers.

The elephant is usually known for its large trunk and huge ears. The trunk represents the nose and upper lip. The trunk alone contains 100,000 different muscles. It serves as a nose. hand, and more. It can pull a bark off a tree or even pick up small objects. like a coin for instance. The coin can be easily picked because the large mammal has two lobes on the tip of its trunk that act like fingers. The trunk can also be used as a snorkel inside the water or as a sign of affection amongst other elephants. The ears, on the other hand, are about five to six feet long and four feet wide. The ears are not meant for flying like Disney's Dumbo but can actually help radiate heat away from the body and keep the elephant cool.

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