Elephants are the pride of India. They are humongous beings and have a great personality. They are also a national heritage of India with kind hearts. Indian elephants are also quite social and play, love, cry and laugh with people as well as other elephants.
Here are 10 facts about Indian elephants that you probably didn’t know!
- Trunk Calls
The trunks of elephants are used in a number of ways. They use it for breathing, smelling, lifting things up and sometimes even using the trunk as a trumpet. The elephants in Asia have a finger-like thing at the end of their trunk that helps them grab objects.
- Tough Tusks
The tusks of elephants are very strong. It can be used to dig for water and roots or even fight with each other or strip the bark of a tree. Many elephants are killed in the forests for their tusks by the poachers.
- Strength in Numbers
Elephants usually live for up to 60 years on an average. In addition to that, there are around 25000 elephants in India. They are usually found in herds. That said, the female elephants are responsible for looking after all the young ones, and the male elephants simply roam throughout the jungle alone.
- Big Brains
It is no secret that elephants are free and wild animals. In addition to that, they are also the brainiest animals in the kingdom. Their size is enormous, and they have the ability to crush any kind of threat that comes their way. That said, witnessing this kind of hostility in elephants is rare because they are generally kind and gentle animals.
- Airy Ears
Elephants have interesting airy ears that help them keep cool by radiating heat. Interestingly, the elephants found in Africa have ears similar to the map of the African continent while the ones found in Asia have smaller ear lobes.
- Jumbo Family
The female elephants have a pregnancy period of 22 months. Normally, the female elephants look after the babies, and the male elephants roam around. The average life span of an elephants ranges between 60-70 years.
- Largest Land Animals
Elephants are the largest land animals who can weight anywhere between 4000-7500 kg. They can have a height of 3 meters. However, Asian elephants are comparatively smaller. They weight between 3000-6000 kgs and have a height of 2.7 meters.
- Endangered or Not
The population of Indian elephants is around 20,000 to 25,000 in the forests. One of the biggest dangers to elephants come from the poachers who kill these elephants to get their tusks. Other causes that endanger their lives are conflicted between humans and animals as well as deforestation.
- Asian Elephant Family
The Elephas maximus or the Indian elephant come under the subcategory of Asian elephants. There are other two species in this family too. They are known as Elephas Maximum in Sri Lanka and Elephas Maximus in Sumatranus in Sri Lanka. The Indian elephants have a long front and are large. However, their body is slightly thinner than the ones found in Thailand.
- Ivory Tusk Poaching
It is a sad reality that the lives of these massive animals are in danger due to ivory tusk poaching. Many humans are known to have killed elephants just for fun or sporting activity. Sometimes, people kill them if they come closer to their communities. While Asian elephants are totally under threat, African elephants are also vulnerable.
Final Words
As mentioned above, elephants are majestic creatures that need no introduction. They are also quite fascinating, and we are sure you learned something new today.
