Elephant
Elephants Temporal range:
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A female African bush elephant in Mikumi National Park, Tanzania | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Proboscidea |
Superfamily: | Elephantoidea |
Family: | Elephantidae |
Groups included | |
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Distribution of living elephant species | |
Cladistically included but traditionally excluded taxa | |
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Elephants are the
Elephants are scattered throughout
Males (bulls) leave their family groups when they reach puberty and may live alone or with other males. Adult bulls mostly interact with family groups when looking for a mate. They enter a state of increased
African bush elephants and Asian elephants are listed as
Etymology
The word elephant is based on the
Taxonomy
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A cladogram of the elephants within Afrotheria based on molecular evidence[5] |
Elephants belong to the family
Three species of living elephants are recognised; the
Evolution
Over 180 extinct members of order Proboscidea have been described.[14] The earliest proboscideans, the African Eritherium and Phosphatherium are known from the late Paleocene.[15] The Eocene included Numidotherium, Moeritherium and Barytherium from Africa. These animals were relatively small and, some, like Moeritherium and Barytherium were probably amphibious.[16][17] Later on, genera such as Phiomia and Palaeomastodon arose; the latter likely inhabited more forested areas. Proboscidean diversification changed little during the Oligocene.[16] One notable species of this epoch was Eritreum melakeghebrekristosi of the Horn of Africa, which may have been an ancestor to several later species.[18]
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Proboscidea phylogeny based on morphological and DNA evidence[19][20][13] |
A major event in proboscidean evolution was the collision of Afro-Arabia with Eurasia, during the Early Miocene, around 18–19 million years ago, allowing proboscideans to disperse from their African homeland across Eurasia and later, around 16–15 million years ago into North America across the
Elephantids are distinguished from earlier proboscideans by a major shift in the molar morphology to parallel lophs rather than the cusps of earlier proboscideans, allowing them to become higher-crowned (hypsodont) and more efficient in consuming grass.[23] The Late Miocene saw major climactic changes, which resulted in the decline and extinction of many proboscidean groups.[21] The earliest members of the modern genera of Elephantidae appeared during the latest Miocene–early Pliocene around 5 million years ago. The elephantid genera Elephas (which includes the living Asian elephant) and Mammuthus (mammoths) migrated out of Africa during the late Pliocene, around 3.6 to 3.2 million years ago.[24]
Over the course of the
Over the course of their evolution, probobscideans grew in size. With that came longer limbs and wider feet with a more digitigrade stance, along with a larger head and shorter neck. The trunk evolved and grew longer to provide reach. The number of premolars, incisors, and canines decreased, and the cheek teeth (molars and premolars) became longer and more specialised. The incisors developed into tusks of different shapes and sizes.[29] Several species of proboscideans became isolated on islands and experienced insular dwarfism,[30] some dramatically reducing in body size, such as the 1 metre (3.3 ft) tall dwarf elephant species Palaeoloxodon falconeri.[31]
Living species
Name | Size | Appearance | Distribution | Image |
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African bush elephant (Loxodonta africana) | Male: 304–336 cm (10 ft 0 in – 11 ft 0 in) (shoulder height), 5.2–6.9 t (5.7–7.6 short tons) (weight); Female: 247–273 cm (8 ft 1 in – 8 ft 11 in) (shoulder height), 2.6–3.5 t (2.9–3.9 short tons) (weight).[32] | Relatively large and triangular ears, concave back, diamond shaped molar ridges, wrinkled skin, sloping abdomen, and two finger-like extensions at the tip of the trunk.[33] | Sub-Saharan Africa; forests, savannahs, deserts, wetlands, and near lakes[34] | |
African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) | 209–231 cm (6 ft 10 in – 7 ft 7 in) (shoulder height), 1.7–2.3 t (1.9–2.5 short tons) (weight).[32] | Similar to the bush species, but with smaller and more rounded ears and thinner and straighter tusks.[33][34] | West and Central Africa; equatorial forests, but occasionally gallery forests and forest/grassland ecotones.[34] | |
Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) | Male: 261–289 cm (8 ft 7 in – 9 ft 6 in) (shoulder height), 3.5–4.6 t (3.9–5.1 short tons) (weight); Female: 228–252 cm (7 ft 6 in – 8 ft 3 in) (shoulder height), 2.3–3.1 t (2.5–3.4 short tons) (weight).[32] | Relatively small ears, convex or level back, dish-shaped forehead with two large bumps, narrow molar ridges, smooth skin with some blotches of depigmentation, a straightened or saggy abdomen, and one extension at the tip of the trunk.[33] | South and Southeast Asia; habitats with a mix of grasses, low woody plants, and trees, including dry thorn-scrub forests in southern India and Sri Lanka and evergreen forests in Malaya.[35] |
Anatomy
Elephants are the largest living terrestrial animals.[36] The skeleton is made up of 326–351 bones.[37] The vertebrae are connected by tight joints, which limit the backbone's flexibility. African elephants have 21 pairs of ribs, while Asian elephants have 19 or 20 pairs.[38] The skull contains air cavities (sinuses) that reduce the weight of the skull while maintaining overall strength. These cavities give the inside of the skull a honeycomb-like appearance. By contrast, the lower jaw is dense. The cranium is particularly large and provides enough room for the attachment of muscles to support the entire head.[37] The skull is built to withstand great stress, particularly when fighting or using the tusks. The brain is surrounded by arches in the skull, which serve as protection.[39] Because of the size of the head, the neck is relatively short to provide better support.[29] Elephants are homeotherms and maintain their average body temperature at ~ 36 °C (97 °F), with a minimum of 35.2 °C (95.4 °F) during the cool season, and a maximum of 38.0 °C (100.4 °F) during the hot dry season.[40]
Ears and eyes
Elephant ear flaps, or
Lacking a lacrimal apparatus (tear duct), the eye relies on the harderian gland in the orbit to keep it moist. A durable nictitating membrane shields the globe. The animal's field of vision is compromised by the location and limited mobility of the eyes.[43] Elephants are dichromats[44] and they can see well in dim light but not in bright light.[45]
Trunk
The elongated and
As a muscular hydrostat, the trunk moves through finely controlled muscle contractions, working both with and against each other.[47] Using three basic movements: bending, twisting, and longitudinal stretching or retracting, the trunk has near unlimited flexibility. Objects grasped by the end of the trunk can be moved to the mouth by curving the appendage inward. The trunk can also bend at different points by creating stiffened "pseudo-joints". The tip can be moved in a way similar to the human hand.[48] The skin is more elastic on the dorsal side of the elephant trunk than underneath; allowing the animal to stretch and coil while maintaining a strong grasp.[49] The African elephants have two finger-like extensions at the tip of the trunk that allow them to pluck small food. The Asian elephant has only one and relies more on wrapping around a food item.[33] Asian elephant trunks have better motor coordination.[46]
The trunk's extreme flexibility allows it to forage and wrestle other elephants with it. It is powerful enough to lift up to 350 kg (770 lb), but it also has the precision to crack a peanut shell without breaking the seed. With its trunk, an elephant can reach items up to 7 m (23 ft) high and dig for water in the mud or sand below. It also uses it to clean itself.[50] Individuals may show lateral preference when grasping with their trunks: some prefer to twist them to the left, others to the right.[47] Elephant trunks are capable of powerful siphoning. They can expand their nostrils by 30%, leading to a 64% greater nasal volume, and can breathe in almost 30 times faster than a human sneeze, at over 150 m/s (490 ft/s).[51] They suck up water, which is squirted into the mouth or over the body.[29][51] The trunk of an adult Asian elephant is capable of retaining 8.5 L (2.2 US gal) of water.[46] They will also sprinkle dust or grass on themselves.[29] When underwater, the elephant uses its trunk as a snorkel.[52]
The trunk also acts as a sense organ. Its sense of smell may be four times greater than a bloodhound's nose.[53] The infraorbital nerve, which makes the trunk sensitive to touch, is thicker than both the optic and auditory nerves. Whiskers grow all along the trunk, and are particularly packed at the tip, where they contribute to its tactile sensitivity. Unlike those of many mammals, such as cats and rats, elephant whiskers do not move independently ("whisk") to sense the environment; the trunk itself must move to bring the whiskers into contact with nearby objects. Whiskers grow in rows along each side on the ventral surface of the trunk, which is thought to be essential in helping elephants balance objects there, whereas they are more evenly arranged on the dorsal surface. The number and patterns of whiskers are distinctly different between species.[54]
Damaging the trunk would be detrimental to an elephant's survival,[29] although in rare cases, individuals have survived with shortened ones. One trunkless elephant has been observed to graze using its lips with its hind legs in the air and balancing on its front knees.[46] Floppy trunk syndrome is a condition of trunk paralysis recorded in African bush elephants and involves the degeneration of the peripheral nerves and muscles. The disorder has been linked to lead poisoning.[55]
Teeth
Elephants usually have 26 teeth: the incisors, known as the tusks; 12 deciduous premolars; and 12 molars. Unlike most mammals, teeth are not replaced by new ones emerging from the jaws vertically. Instead, new teeth start at the back of the mouth and push out the old ones. The first chewing tooth on each side of the jaw falls out when the elephant is two to three years old. This is followed by four more tooth replacements at the ages of four to six, 9–15, 18–28, and finally in their early 40s. The final (usually sixth) set must last the elephant the rest of its life. Elephant teeth have loop-shaped dental ridges, which are more diamond-shaped in African elephants.[56]
Tusks
The tusks of an elephant have modified second incisors in the upper jaw. They replace deciduous
Elephants are usually right- or left-tusked, similar to humans, who are typically right- or left-handed. The dominant, or "master" tusk, is typically more worn down, as it is shorter and blunter. For African elephants, tusks are present in both males and females, and are around the same length in both sexes, reaching up to 300 cm (9 ft 10 in),[57] but those of males tend to be more massive.[58] In the Asian species, only the males have large tusks. Female Asians have very small tusks, or none at all.[57] Tuskless males exist and are particularly common among Sri Lankan elephants.[59] Asian males can have tusks as long as Africans', but they are usually slimmer and lighter; the largest recorded was 302 cm (9 ft 11 in) long and weighed 39 kg (86 lb). Hunting for elephant ivory in Africa[60] and Asia[61] has led to natural selection for shorter tusks[62][63] and tusklessness.[64][65]
Skin
An elephant's skin is generally very tough, at 2.5 cm (1 in) thick on the back and parts of the head. The skin around the mouth, anus, and inside of the ear is considerably thinner. Elephants are typically grey, but African elephants look brown or reddish after rolling in coloured mud. Asian elephants have some patches of depigmentation, particularly on the head. Calves have brownish or reddish hair, with the head and back being particularly hairy. As elephants mature, their hair darkens and becomes sparser, but dense concentrations of hair and bristles remain on the tip of the tail and parts of the head and genitals. Normally, the skin of an Asian elephant is covered with more hair than its African counterpart.[66] Their hair is thought to help them lose heat in their hot environments.[67]
Although tough, an elephant's skin is very sensitive and requires mud baths to maintain moisture and protection from burning and insect bites. After bathing, the elephant will usually use its trunk to blow dust onto its body, which dries into a protective crust. Elephants have difficulty releasing heat through the skin because of their low surface-area-to-volume ratio, which is many times smaller than that of a human. They have even been observed lifting up their legs to expose their soles to the air.[66] Elephants only have sweat glands between the toes,[68] but the skin allows water to disperse and evaporate, cooling the animal.[69][70] In addition, cracks in the skin may reduce dehydration and allow for increased thermal regulation in the long term.[71]
Legs, locomotion, and posture
To support the animal's weight, an elephant's limbs are positioned more vertically under the body than in most other mammals. The long bones of the limbs have
Elephants can move both forward and backward, but are incapable of
Internal systems
The brain of an elephant weighs 4.5–5.5 kg (10–12 lb) compared to 1.6 kg (4 lb) for a human brain.
The heart of an elephant weighs 12–21 kg (26–46 lb). Its
Sex characteristics
A male elephant's testes, like other
Behaviour and ecology
Elephants are
Because of their large size, elephants have a huge impact on their environments and are considered keystone species. Their habit of uprooting trees and undergrowth can transform savannah into grasslands;[92] smaller herbivores can access trees mowed down by elephants.[87] When they dig for water during droughts, they create waterholes that can be used by other animals. When they use waterholes, they end up making them bigger.[92] At Mount Elgon, elephants dig through caves and pave the way for ungulates, hyraxes, bats, birds and insects.[92] Elephants are important seed dispersers; African forest elephants consume and deposit many seeds over great distances, with either no effect or a positive effect on germination.[93] In Asian forests, large seeds require giant herbivores like elephants and rhinoceros for transport and dispersal. This ecological niche cannot be filled by the smaller Malayan tapir.[94] Because most of the food elephants eat goes undigested, their dung can provide food for other animals, such as dung beetles and monkeys.[92] Elephants can have a negative impact on ecosystems. At Murchison Falls National Park in Uganda, elephant numbers have threatened several species of small birds that depend on woodlands. Their weight causes the soil to compress, leading to runoff and erosion.[87]
Elephants typically coexist peacefully with other herbivores, which will usually stay out of their way. Some aggressive interactions between elephants and rhinoceros have been recorded.
Social organisation
Elephants are generally
At Amboseli National Park, Kenya, female groups may consist of around ten members, including four adults and their dependent offspring. Here, a cow's life involves interaction with those outside her group. Two separate families may associate and bond with each other, forming what are known as bond groups. During the dry season, elephant families may aggregate into clans. These may number around nine groups, in which clans do not form strong bonds but defend their dry-season ranges against other clans. The Amboseli elephant population is further divided into the "central" and "peripheral" subpopulations.[101]
Female Asian elephants tend to have more fluid social associations.[100] In Sri Lanka, there appear to be stable family units or "herds" and larger, looser "groups". They have been observed to have "nursing units" and "juvenile-care units". In southern India, elephant populations may contain family groups, bond groups and possibly clans. Family groups tend to be small, with only one or two adult females and their offspring. A group containing more than two cows and their offspring is known as a "joint family". Malay elephant populations have even smaller family units and do not reach levels above a bond group. Groups of African forest elephants typically consist of one cow with one to three offspring. These groups appear to interact with each other, especially at forest clearings.[101]
Adult males live separate lives. As he matures, a bull associates more with outside males or even other families. At Amboseli, young males may be away from their families 80% of the time by 14–15 years of age. When males permanently leave, they either live alone or with other males. The former is typical of bulls in dense forests. A dominance hierarchy exists among males, whether they are social or solitary. Dominance depends on age, size, and sexual condition.[107] Male elephants can be quite sociable when not competing for mates and form vast and fluid social networks.[108][109] Older bulls act as the leaders of these groups.[110] The presence of older males appears to subdue the aggression and "deviant" behaviour of younger ones.[111] The largest all-male groups can reach close to 150 individuals. Adult males and females come together to breed. Bulls will accompany family groups if a cow is in oestrous.[107]
Sexual behaviour
Musth
Adult males enter a state of increased testosterone known as musth. In a population in southern India, males first enter musth at 15 years old, but it is not very intense until they are older than 25. At Amboseli, no bulls under 24 were found to be in musth, while half of those aged 25–35 and all those over 35 were. In some areas, there may be seasonal influences on the timing of musths. The main characteristic of a bull's musth is a fluid discharged from the temporal gland that runs down the side of his face. Behaviours associated with musth include walking with a high and swinging head, nonsynchronous ear flapping, picking at the ground with the tusks, marking, rumbling, and urinating in the sheath. The length of this varies between males of different ages and conditions, lasting from days to months.[112]
Males become extremely aggressive during musth. Size is the determining factor in agonistic encounters when the individuals have the same condition. In contests between musth and non-musth individuals, musth bulls win the majority of the time, even when the non-musth bull is larger. A male may stop showing signs of musth when he encounters a musth male of higher rank. Those of equal rank tend to avoid each other. Agonistic encounters typically consist of threat displays, chases, and minor sparring. Rarely do they full-on fight.[112]
Mating
Elephants are polygynous breeders,[113] and most copulations occur during rainfall.[114] An oestrous cow uses pheromones in her urine and vaginal secretions to signal her readiness to mate. A bull will follow a potential mate and assess her condition with the flehmen response, which requires him to collect a chemical sample with his trunk and taste it with the vomeronasal organ at the roof of the mouth.[115] The oestrous cycle of a cow lasts 14–16 weeks, with the follicular phase lasting 4–6 weeks and the luteal phase lasting 8–10 weeks. While most mammals have one surge of luteinizing hormone during the follicular phase, elephants have two. The first (or anovulatory) surge, appears to change the female's scent, signaling to males that she is in heat, but ovulation does not occur until the second (or ovulatory) surge.[116] Cows over 45–50 years of age are less fertile.[103]
Bulls engage in a behaviour known as mate-guarding, where they follow oestrous females and defend them from other males.[117] Most mate-guarding is done by musth males, and females seek them out, particularly older ones.[118] Musth appears to signal to females the condition of the male, as weak or injured males do not have normal musths.[119] For young females, the approach of an older bull can be intimidating, so her relatives stay nearby for comfort.[120] During copulation, the male rests his trunk on the female.[121] The penis is mobile enough to move without the pelvis.[83] Before mounting, it curves forward and upward. Copulation lasts about 45 seconds and does not involve pelvic thrusting or an ejaculatory pause.[122]
Homosexual behaviour is frequent in both sexes. As in heterosexual interactions, this involves mounting. Male elephants sometimes stimulate each other by playfighting, and "championships" may form between old bulls and younger males. Female same-sex behaviours have been documented only in captivity, where they engage in mutual masturbation with their trunks.[123]
Birth and development
For the first few days, the newborn is unsteady on its feet and needs its mother's help. It relies on touch, smell, and hearing, as its eyesight is less developed. With little coordination in its trunk, it can only flop it around which may cause it to trip. When it reaches its second week, the calf can walk with more balance and has more control over its trunk. After its first month, the trunk can grab and hold objects, but still lacks sucking abilities, and the calf must bend down to drink. It continues to stay near its mother as it is still reliant on her. For its first three months, a calf relies entirely on its mother's milk, after which it begins to forage for vegetation and can use its trunk to collect water. At the same time, there is progress in lip and leg movements. By nine months, mouth, trunk and foot coordination are mastered. Suckling bouts tend to last 2–4 min/hr for a calf younger than a year. After a year, a calf is fully capable of grooming, drinking, and feeding itself. It still needs its mother's milk and protection until it is at least two years old. Suckling after two years may improve growth, health and fertility.[126]
Play behaviour in calves differs between the sexes; females run or chase each other while males play-fight. The former are
Communication
Elephants communicate in various ways. Individuals greet one another by touching each other on the mouth, temporal glands and genitals. This allows them to pick up chemical cues. Older elephants use trunk-slaps, kicks, and shoves to control younger ones. Touching is especially important for mother–calf communication. When moving, elephant mothers will touch their calves with their trunks or feet when side-by-side or with their tails if the calf is behind them. A calf will press against its mother's front legs to signal it wants to rest and will touch her breast or leg when it wants to suckle.[130]
Visual displays mostly occur in agonistic situations. Elephants will try to appear more threatening by raising their heads and spreading their ears. They may add to the display by shaking their heads and snapping their ears, as well as tossing around dust and vegetation. They are usually bluffing when performing these actions. Excited elephants also raise their heads and spread their ears but additionally may raise their trunks. Submissive elephants will lower their heads and trunks, as well as flatten their ears against their necks, while those that are ready to fight will bend their ears in a V shape.[131]
Elephants produce several vocalisations—some of which pass though the trunk
Intelligence and cognition
Elephants are among the most intelligent animals. They exhibit
Scientists debate the extent to which elephants feel emotion. They are attracted to the bones of their own kind, regardless of whether they are related.[142] As with chimpanzees and dolphins, a dying or dead elephant may elicit attention and aid from others, including those from other groups. This has been interpreted as expressing "concern";[143] however, the Oxford Companion to Animal Behaviour (1987) said that "one is well advised to study the behaviour rather than attempting to get at any underlying emotion".[144]
Conservation
Status
African bush elephants were listed as
African elephants receive at least some legal protection in every country where they are found. Successful conservation efforts in certain areas have led to high population densities while failures have led to declines as high as 70% or more of the course of ten years. As of 2008, local numbers were controlled by contraception or translocation. Large-scale cullings stopped in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1989, the African elephant was listed under Appendix I by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), making trade illegal. Appendix II status (which allows restricted trade) was given to elephants in Botswana, Namibia, and Zimbabwe in 1997 and South Africa in 2000. In some countries, sport hunting of the animals is legal; Botswana, Cameroon, Gabon, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe have CITES export quotas for elephant trophies.[145]
In 2020, the IUCN listed the Asian elephant as
Threats
The poaching of elephants for their ivory, meat and hides has been one of the major threats to their existence.[149] Historically, numerous cultures made ornaments and other works of art from elephant ivory, and its use was comparable to that of gold.[151] The ivory trade contributed to the fall of the African elephant population in the late 20th century.[145] This prompted international bans on ivory imports, starting with the United States in June 1989, and followed by bans in other North American countries, western European countries, and Japan.[151] Around the same time, Kenya destroyed all its ivory stocks.[152] Ivory was banned internationally by CITES in 1990. Following the bans, unemployment rose in India and China, where the ivory industry was important economically. By contrast, Japan and Hong Kong, which were also part of the industry, were able to adapt and were not as badly affected.[151] Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Malawi wanted to continue the ivory trade and were allowed to, since their local populations were healthy, but only if their supplies were from culled individuals or those that died of natural causes.[152]
The ban allowed the elephant to recover in parts of Africa.[151] In February 2012, 650 elephants in Bouba Njida National Park, Cameroon, were slaughtered by Chadian raiders.[153] This has been called "one of the worst concentrated killings" since the ivory ban.[152] Asian elephants are potentially less vulnerable to the ivory trade, as females usually lack tusks. Still, members of the species have been killed for their ivory in some areas, such as Periyar National Park in India.[149] China was the biggest market for poached ivory but announced they would phase out the legal domestic manufacture and sale of ivory products in May 2015, and in September 2015, China and the United States said "they would enact a nearly complete ban on the import and export of ivory" due to causes of extinction.[154]
Other threats to elephants include
Human relations
Working animal
Elephants have been
In India, many working elephants are alleged to have been subject to abuse. They and other captive elephants are thus protected under
The practice of working elephants has also been attempted in Africa. The taming of African elephants in the Belgian Congo began by decree of Leopold II of Belgium during the 19th century and continues to the present with the Api Elephant Domestication Centre.[163]
Warfare
Historically, elephants were considered formidable instruments of war. They were described in Sanskrit texts as far back as 1500 BC. From South Asia, the use of elephants in warfare spread west to Persia[164] and east to Southeast Asia.[165] The Persians used them during the Achaemenid Empire (between the 6th and 4th centuries BC)[164] while Southeast Asian states first used war elephants possibly as early as the 5th century BC and continued to the 20th century.[165] War elephants were also employed in the Mediterranean and North Africa throughout the classical period since the reign of Ptolemy II in Egypt. The Carthaginian general Hannibal famously took African elephants across the Alps during his war with the Romans and reached the Po Valley in 218 BC with all of them alive, but died of disease and combat a year later.[164]
An elephant's head and sides were equipped with armour, the trunk may have had a sword tied to it and tusks were sometimes covered with sharpened iron or brass. Trained elephants would attack both humans and horses with their tusks. They might have grasped an enemy soldier with the trunk and tossed him to their mahout, or pinned the soldier to the ground and speared him. Some shortcomings of war elephants included their great visibility, which made them easy to target, and limited maneuverability compared to horses. Alexander the Great achieved victory over armies with war elephants by having his soldiers injure the trunks and legs of the animals which caused them to panic and become uncontrollable.[164]
Zoos and circuses
Elephants have traditionally been a major part of zoos and circuses around the world. In circuses, they are trained to perform tricks. The most famous circus elephant was probably Jumbo (1861 – 15 September 1885), who was a major attraction in the Barnum & Bailey Circus.[166][167] These animals do not reproduce well in captivity due to the difficulty of handling musth bulls and limited understanding of female oestrous cycles. Asian elephants were always more common than their African counterparts in modern zoos and circuses. After CITES listed the Asian elephant under Appendix I in 1975, imports of the species almost stopped by the end of the 1980s. Subsequently, the US received many captive African elephants from Zimbabwe, which had an overabundance of the animals.[167]
Keeping elephants in zoos has met with some controversy. Proponents of zoos argue that they allow easy access to the animals and provide fund and knowledge for preserving their natural habitats, as well as safekeeping for the species. Opponents claim that animals in zoos are under physical and mental stress.[168] Elephants have been recorded displaying stereotypical behaviours in the form of wobbling the body or head and pacing the same route both forwards and backwards. This has been observed in 54% of individuals in UK zoos.[169] Elephants in European zoos appear to have shorter lifespans than their wild counterparts at only 17 years, although other studies suggest that zoo elephants live just as long.[170]
The use of elephants in circuses has also been controversial; the
Attacks
Elephants can exhibit bouts of aggressive behaviour and engage in destructive actions against humans.[175] In Africa, groups of adolescent elephants damaged homes in villages after cullings in the 1970s and 1980s. Because of the timing, these attacks have been interpreted as vindictive.[176][177] In parts of India, male elephants have entered villages at night, destroying homes and killing people. From 2000 to 2004, 300 people died in Jharkhand, and in Assam, 239 people were reportedly killed between 2001 and 2006.[175] Throughout the country, 1,500 people were killed by elephants between 2019 and 2022, which led to 300 elephants being killed in kind.[178] Local people have reported their belief that some elephants were drunk during their attacks, though officials have disputed this.[179][180] Purportedly drunk elephants attacked an Indian village in December 2002, killing six people, which led to the retaliatory slaughter of about 200 elephants by locals.[181]
Cultural significance
Elephants have a universal presence in global culture. They have been represented in art since
Elephants have been the subject of religious beliefs. The
In Western popular culture, elephants symbolise the exotic, especially since – as with the giraffe, hippopotamus and rhinoceros – there are no similar animals familiar to Western audiences. As characters, elephants are most common in children's stories, where they are portrayed positively. They are typically surrogates for humans with ideal human values. Many stories tell of isolated young elephants returning to or finding a family, such as "The Elephant's Child" from Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories, Disney's Dumbo, and Kathryn and Byron Jackson's The Saggy Baggy Elephant. Other elephant heroes given human qualities include Jean de Brunhoff's Babar, David McKee's Elmer, and Dr. Seuss's Horton.[190]
Several cultural references emphasise the elephant's size and strangeness. For instance, a "white elephant" is a byword for something that is weird, unwanted, and has no value.[190] The expression "elephant in the room" refers to something that is being ignored but ultimately must be addressed.[191] The story of the blind men and an elephant involves blind men touching different parts of an elephant and trying to figure out what it is.[192]
See also
- Animal track
- Desert elephant
- Elephants' graveyard
- List of individual elephants
- Motty, captive hybrid of an Asian and African elephant
- National Elephant Day (Thailand)
- World Elephant Day
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Further reading
- Carrington, Richard (1958). Elephants: A Short Account of their Natural History, Evolution and Influence on Mankind. Chatto & Windus. OCLC 911782153.
- Nance, Susan (2013). Entertaining Elephants: Animal Agency and the Business of the American Circus. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
- Saxe, John Godfrey (1872). "The Blindmen and the Elephant" at Wikisource. The Poems of John Godfrey Saxe.
- ISBN 978-0-517-57320-4.