Elephants
Elephants
Asian elephant
Small ears
High vertical forehead
Females tuskless
Proportion of tuskless males varies
Loxodonta
African elephant
Large ears
Receding forehead
Both sexes usually have tusks
Uses of the trunk
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As a tool
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As a sense organ
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Grazing & browsing
Manipulating objects
Moving water
Touch
Smell
As a social-signaling organ
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A trumpet that amplifies vocalizations
A bearer of visual signals
A touch-communicator
Distribution of Asian elephant
Elephas maximus
Extinct
Mesopotamia
and Syria?
South Asia
Southeast
Asia
S.E.China
Java
(10th century)
Borneo
Sumatra
African bush elephant
Loxodonta africana
Open areas in Africa south of Sahara
Formerly slopes of Atlas Mountains
(tamed by Carthaginians)
Still in Eritrea
(tamed by Ptolemaic Egyptians, ca. 250 B.C.)
African forest elephant
Loxodonta cyclotis
African rainforest
Small size
Round ears
Thin straight tusks
Gangala na Bodio
Catching Indian elephants
the last Keddah (Mysore, 1970s)
1
The tame elephants set out
2
The wild elephant herd
that is destined to be
caught
3
The tame elephants
return to the keddah
- One of the converging
fences seen in
background
4
The keddah
People come from miles
around to watch
5
The tame elephants and the
wild herd approach the keddah
6
The elephants have all entered
the keddah, and the gate has
been shut behind them
7 and 8
The wild herd is inside the keddah; the tame
elephants are herding them towards the sides
where they will be roped or trapped
9
A wild elephant has
been roped by a mahout
who has jumped down
10
Oher wild
elephants are
separated into
holding
compartments
11
A newly caught
young bull is led
away between
two tame
elephants
12
A newly caught
cow and calf
are led away
between two
tame elephants
13
Newly caught
elephants being taken
for their first bath.
This has a calming
effect
14
The newly
caught cow
and calf being
taken from the
water after
their bath
Value of elephants in Asian culture
and economy
Logging
Chiangmai, Thailand
Ceremonial
Colombo, Sri Lanka
56-year-old bull elephant in musth
near Kandy, Sri Lanka
chained to tree
War elephants, 250-200 B.C.
Indian
elephants
King Demetrius
of Bactria
with symbolic
elephant helmet
250 B.C.
Seleucus I
293-281 B.C.
Carthaginian
African
elephants
Spain, before
Second Punic War
218 B.C.
Tame African elephants today
Forest elephants
Gangala na Bodio
1950s
Bush elephants
Okavango
2002