The Asian elephant is currently the largest living land animal in Asia and is the only surviving species of the genus Elephas. There are currently less than 50,000 Asian elephants left in the world and is considered to be an important cultural icon in Asia. Asian elephants are similar to the African elephant with the exception of their ears which are smaller and both females and males have smaller or no tusks (Worldwildlife, 2019). They play an important part in the environment as they create gaps in the vegetation they eat, this allows new plants to grow. They also eat and transport seeds across to new areas. (Taronga, 2019).
Photo of herd of
females (Above) by Ajay A Desai and tusked male (Below) by Yathin S Krishnappa.
Female Asian elephants live in small herds that are led
by the oldest female which is called the matriarch. Matriarchs protect and lead
the herd to new areas for feeding or water. Many of the herd’s females are
related to each as sisters or aunties. Females are highly protective of baby
elephants and won’t hesitate to attack anything that can be a threat to them.
This can include predators, other elephants and humans (animalplant.com, 2019).
Below is a map that shows red areas as current elephant living areas and pink
was previous distribution of Asian elephants.
Mother and calf By
Nigel Swales and map by Sémhur.
Asian elephants have been hunted by poachers for their
meat, skin and ivory. The skin has been used in Chinese medicine and the
manufacturing of ornamental beads. The ivory is used in the making of items
such as flasks, plates, and knives. Deforestation is another problem for the
elephants as the forest they depend on for food and shelter is been using for
furniture (Choudhury et al, 2008).
Next time, we will be covering a species a frog that
lives in sand dunes and is considered to be the world’s cutest frog because of its war cry.
References
Choudhury, A., Lahiri Choudhury, D.K., Desai, A.,
Duckworth, J.W., Easa, P.S., Johnsingh, A.J.T., Fernando, P., Hedges, S.,
Gunawardena, M., Kurt, F., Karanth, U., Lister, A., Menon, V., Riddle, H., Rübel,
A. & Wikramanayake, E. (IUCN SSC Asian Elephant Specialist Group) 2008.
Elephas maximus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2008:
e.T7140A12828813. Downloaded on 28 June 2019.
http://www.animalplanet.com/wild-animals/endangered-species/asian-elephant/
retrieved on 29/06/2019
Picture references
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