March 2016

Habitat Loss
The main threat facing Asian wild elephants is loss of habitat,
which then results in human-elephant conflict. In South East
Asia, an ever-increasing human population has led to many
illegal encroachments in elephant habitats. Many infrastructure
developments like roads and railway tracks also fragment
habitat. Elephants become confined to “islands” as their
ancient migratory routes are cut off. Unable to mix with other
herds, they run the risk of inbreeding.
Habitat loss also forces elephants into close quarters
with humans. In their quest for food, a single elephant can
devastate a small farmer’s crop holding in a single feeding raid.
This leaves elephants vulnerable to retaliatory killings,
especially when people are injured or killed
Facts about elephants :
Asian elephants are extremely sociable, forming groups of six
to seven related females that are led by the oldest female, the
matriarch. Like African elephants, these groups occasionally
join others to form herds, although these associations are
relatively transient.
When you look at elephants, the first thing that strikes you
may be their large floppy ears. Actually, this is how you identify
an African elephant from an Asian elephant, whose ears are
a bit smaller and rounded. Elephants’ears provide more than
hearing: they are equipped to provide heat relief. A network of
tiny veins carries blood to the rest of the body. When they are
hot, they flap their ears and the blood running through the ears
is cooled in the process.
The elephant’s trunk is the second thing that brings up many
questions. An elephant’s trunk is actually a long nose with many
functions. It is used for smelling, breathing, trumpeting, drinking
and also for grabbing things -especially a potential meal. The
trunk alone contains about 100,000 different muscles. Next to the
trunk are the tusks, which have them brought a lot of problems
because of the ivory. All Africans elephants grow tusks, but only
some male Asian elephants have tusks. Some female Asian
elephants have very tiny tusks called tushes but no longer tusks.
The trade of ivory is illegal today, but it has not been completely
eliminated.
The perfect day for an elephant should be spent feeding
on grasses, but large amounts of tree bark, roots, leaves and
small stems are also eaten. Cultivated crops like bananas, rice
and sugar cane are favorite foods. Elephants always need to
be close to a source of fresh water because they need to drink
a lot.
Being the largest land animals on earth, elephants can weight
up to four tonnes and reach more than three metres tall. But
this impressive size hasn’t prevented us from bending them to
our will. Despite having some protection in Thailand, elephant
populations have vastly declined over the past 100 years due
to many factors such as habitat destruction, poaching, climate
change, human action, etc... Nowadays, there are only about
3,000 to 4,000 elephants remaining in Thailand. The notion of
extinction is no longer just a concern, it is the new reality.
As Graydon Carter said: “We admire elephants in part
because they demonstrate what we consider the finest human
traits: empathy, self-awareness and social intelligence. But the
way we treat them puts on display the very worst of human
behavior.”
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