These herds, run by women, generally consist of adult daughters, their calves and a number of male and female adolescents and adolescents. Since it is known that female elephants remain reproductive for most of their lives, calf farming is their main activity, which goes beyond eating and drinking. African bush elephants are not only the largest elephants, but also the largest land animals in the world. They weigh about 6000 kg and measure a height of 3.2 m on the shoulder, while the females are about 60 cm shorter and half as heavy as them. Male Asian elephants weigh approximately 4,000 kg at a shoulder height of 2.75 m, while the 2,000 kg heavy and 2.2 m high African forest elephant is the smallest type of elephant. The WWF works with governments of elephant states, locals and non-governmental partners to secure a future for this key species by thinking beyond protected areas.
For centuries, people have observed that on hot days and when there is no water nearby, elephants put their trunks in their mouths, remove the liquid and spray with it. The source of this fluid and the ability of the elephants to remove it have puzzled despite the fact that the pharyngeal bag was described in 1875. However, the stomach contents are acidic and would irritate the skin.
To give you an idea of how many elephants are lost in the ivory trade, there were 1.3 million elephants in the 1970s. Elephants in African forests that live in the basin’s forests are at increased risk of being more poaching than any other species, and their number is steadily dramblys decreasing. Fortunately, the female elephant community is social and supportive, and its mothers not only care about young calves, but also about other women in the herd. When a new baby is born, all women in the group announce the news and announce the newcomer.
The loss of habitats due to the expansion of human settlements is another challenge for the African and Asian elephant population. Elephants need a lot of land to find enough food and water (they can travel more than 30,000 square kilometers), but as the human population increases, the amount of land available to elephants decreases. When human settlements expand and we move into the elephant room, more negative interactions occur. The penetration of elephants is a particular problem in both Africa and Asia. Farmers sometimes kill elephants to protect their family or income, which further threatens the size of the elephant population. As a result of a combination of these challenges, Asian elephants in several fragmented and isolated populations in South and Southeast Asia are limited to 15% of their original range.
But they are also highly developed and one of the most advanced species when it comes to their newborn skills. Female elephants (also called “cows”) have the longest gestation period of all mammals and last up to 23 months! After spending so much time feeding their mummies’ bellies, it is not surprising that baby elephants are fairly intelligent babies when they are finally welcome in the world. Elephants are the largest living land animals, which are characterized by their long trunk, their pillar legs, their ivory tusks and their huge head with flat, wide ears.