In our article we want to talk about the famous giants, which are the second largest land animals. Meet the Asian elephants.
Appearance of animals
Asian (Indian) elephant is largely different from those individuals that live in Africa. An Indian animal weighs up to five and a half tons. Its height is 2.5-3.5 m. Elephants have fairly modest tusks about one and a half meters long and weighing up to twenty-five kilograms. If the animal simply does not have them, then it is called makhna.
Asian elephants have small ears, pointed and elongated at the ends. They boast a powerful physique. The legs are relatively short and rather thick. The Indian, or Asiatic, elephant has five hooves on its front limbs, and only four on its hind limbs. Its strong, powerful body is guarded and protected by thick, wrinkled skin. On average, its thickness is 2.5 centimeters. The softest thin areas are inside the ears and near the mouth.
The color of animals can vary from dark gray to brown. Albino Asian elephants are very rare. Such unique animals are highly valued.in Siam, they are even an object of worship there. Their main feature is light skin, on which there are lighter spots. Albino eyes are also unusual, they have a light yellow tint. There are even specimens that have pale red skin and whitish hair growing on their backs.
The lack of tusks in Asian elephants and their small size in those individuals that have them, saved the animals from ruthless destruction, as happened in Africa.
Habitats
Wild Asian elephants live in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, the islands of Sumatra and Borneo, and also in Brunei. They live in national parks, remote areas and nature reserves. Elephants are very fond of destroying rice plantations, as well as thickets of sugar cane, and picking banana trees. For this reason, they are considered pests of agriculture, which is why they prefer to push them to distant territories so as not to lose crops.
Indian elephants love subtropical and tropical forests (broad-leaved) with dense thickets of shrubs and bamboo. In summer they prefer to climb mountains. In extreme heat, giants flap their ears to cool their bodies.
Asian Elephant Lifestyle
It's hard to believe, but these are very dexterous animals. With such a significant weight, they balance perfectly, although they look extremely clumsy. Despite their impressive size, they famously climb the slopes of mountains overgrown with forests to a height of 3.6 thousand meters. Of course, without seeing it, it's hard to imagine. The special structure of the soles of their feet allows them to travel safely through swampy areas, although they are so careful that they periodically check the reliability of the ground under their feet with strong blows with their trunks.
The Asian elephant is the second largest land animal, which causes genuine respect for him. Females live in small groups, consisting of a maximum of ten adults with babies of different ages. The leader is the oldest female, who cares about the safety of her entire herd.
Females tend to help each other. For example, when one of them begins to give birth, all the others stand around her and do not move away until the cub appears and gets to its feet. In such a simple way, they protect the mother and baby from attacks by predators. Newborn baby elephants usually stay close to their mother, but they can easily eat from another mother who has milk.
The female gives birth to only one cub weighing up to one hundred kilograms. Pregnancy lasts 22 months. Babies are born with small tusks, which fall out in their second year of life.
After reaching the age of ten or sixteen years, the males leave their mother forever, but the females remain in the herd. In some ways, the way of life of these animals is similar to the human. By the age of 12-16, elephants are able to reproduce, but they become adults only at twenty.
How long do they live?
Elephants can be safely attributed to centenarians. They live 60-80 years. An interesting fact is that in the wild, individuals die not from age and disease, but simply from hunger. This situation is due to the fact that in their entire life their teeth change only four times. All renewals take place until the age of forty, and later they no longer grow. The old ones are gradually falling into disrepair. And now, by the age of seventy, the teeth become completely bad, the animal can no longer chew them, and therefore loses every opportunity to eat.
Indian or Asian Elephant: Nutrition
It must be said that the diet of wild elephants depends entirely on where they live. In general, animals prefer ficus leaves. whether the season is dry or rainy is important.
Elephants are very fond of all kinds of herbs, leaves, fruits, they even eat the crown of trees, because they draw minerals from it. During the day, the animal eats from 300 to 350 kilograms of grass and leaves. They have a lot of water. Elephants generally prefer marsh plants. But African individuals love s alt, they find it in the ground.
Feeding in captivity
Asian (African) elephants living in captivity feed mainly on hay and grass. Animals love sweets. Preference is given to apples, bananas, beets, carrots. Elephants also like flour products, especially cookies and bread. In the zoo, they eat up to thirty kilograms of hay per day, plus another fifteen kilograms of fruits, vegetables, ten kilograms of flour products. They can also feed animals with cereals, for example, giving up to ten kilograms of grain. A must in the dietelephants include vitamins and s alt.
Features of behavior
Elephants are great swimmers, easily overcome long distances. Animals sleep only four hours, this is quite enough for them. Elephants need water, and they drink a lot of it (up to 200 liters per day). As a rule, for this they go to the source, they only quench their thirst according to seniority. Sometimes babies get just dirty slurry instead of water. This happens during a period of intense heat, when the reservoirs dry up. But during periods when there is a lot of liquid, elephants bathe, watering each other with their trunks. Perhaps this is how they play.
Frightened elephants run fast enough, reaching speeds of up to 50 kilometers an hour. At the same time, they raise their tails up, thus giving a signal of danger. Animals have a developed sense of smell and hearing.
Indian and African elephants have completely different personalities. Asian individuals are very friendly and treat people well. In general, they are much easier to tame. It is these elephants that help people transport goods and perform hard work in the southeastern countries of Asia. If you have ever seen an elephant in a circus, then do not doubt that this is an Asian animal.
Absolutely all varieties of elephants are endangered, and therefore listed in the Red Book.
Interesting facts
You probably don't know what:
- When bathing underwater, elephants use their trunks to breathe.
- At the end of the trunk of an Asian animal there is one finger-like outgrowth. With it, the elephant eats.
- During hard times, animals can cry like humans, and they make low sounds that we can't hear.
- Elephants can distinguish each other's voices at a distance of 19 kilometers.
- These are the only animals that bury their dead relatives. Finding the remains, the herd works together to hide the bones in the ground.
- The trunk is very important for the animal, it eats with it, breathes and sniffs, takes out the foliage of trees. Injury to him, the elephant may die of hunger.
Instead of afterword
The elephant is an amazing and beautiful animal. Many of his habits are similar to human ones. Not without reason, for many centuries, animals have been and remain faithful helpers of people. In gratitude, we should make every effort so that these cute creatures do not disappear from the face of the Earth.
