Indian Elephants

by William Nickel

Elephant is the largest living land animal in the earth today and they can be categorized into three major types. African bush elephant, African forest elephant and Asian elephant are the three main types of elephants. Asian elephants are also popularly known as Indian elephants. In Asian countries, elephants are often worshipped and are considered as sign of wisdom. Elephants are also used for elephant safari and wildlife tours. Though it is an animal, studies revealed that memory and intelligence of elephants are high.Today, numbers of elephants are decreasing as a result of human intrusion inside different forests. At present it is a protected species in most of the countries. Actually African and Asian elephants are different species, the African elephants are bigger in size compared to the Asian ones and the sizes of the ears are much larger. On the basis of genetic differences, the African elephants are further classified into two major types. Both kinds of these elephants are basically herbivores.Trunk of elephant is the fusion of upper lip and the nose. Few biologists suggested that, the elephant's trunk muscles are sensitive enough to pick up a single blade of grass, and the trunks are strong enough to rip the branches off a tree. The second upper incisors are the tusks and these tusks grow continuously. An adult elephant's tusk can grow even seven inches per year. The elephants use these tusks to dig for water, roots and salts to maintain hydration of body. With these tusks the elephants can even debug trees and branches. These tusks are even used as weapons. Teeth of the elephant highly differ from teeth of other mammals. There are no baby teeth in case of elephants; the teeth remain throughout its life. Elephant skins are tough and around 2.5 cm thick. But, the skin, near to ears and mouth are very thin and soft. Legs are like strong pillars and the feet are almost round. The elephants can swim and climb to some extent but they hardly have any other movements. Usually an elephant spends around sixteen hours per day to accumulate food. In terms of body mass, an elephant is almost five times than a human being. The largest areas of elephant's brain are used for hearing purposes. It is indeed an interesting fact to note that the hearing receptors are located inside the trunk. And again in feet, which have special receptors for low frequency sound and these are exceptionally well innervated. Elephants have high level of self-awareness and they are very cautious about the surrounding environment. With repeated elephant hunting over the centuries, today elephants are under threat of extinction. Elephants play a crucial role in maintaining ecological balance, so preservation of elephant is indeed crucial.

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