SRI LANKAN
ELEPHANTS
YALA NATIONAL
PARK
Group : Group A
Name : E C FERDINANDS
Index No : CMB/CF/CF/057/12
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. INTRODUCTION
Introduction
2
Origins
3
Species
4-5
II.CHARACTERISTICS
Social organizations and Behavior
6
Female and male society
6
Birth and calf development
7
Qestrus and musth
7
Elephant communication and diet
8
III. INTERACTION
Sri Lankan elephants
9
Wild elephants
10
Elephants on cultural aspects
11
Economy and tourism
11
IV. CONSERVATION
Human-elephant conflict
12
Captive elephants
13
Elephant Transit Home
13
Management of captive elephants
14
Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage
14
INTRODUCTION
Elephants is the largest land animal
inhabiting in the world as mammals.
The adults of the species are
herbivorous. They are extremely
intelligent social animal by nature.
Elephants
have
captured
man’s
imagination and respect for thousands
of years. In some ways we can draw
close parallels between humans and
elephants. Like humans, elephants
have the capacity to modify their
habitats dramatically and their need
for space often brings them into direct
conflict
with
expanding
human
populations.
Doyou know there are two species of
Elephants in the world?
1. African Elephants - Loxodonta
Africanus
2. Asian Elephnat - Elephas Maximus
The Asian elephant and its close
cousin,
the
African
elephant
(Loxodonta African), are the only
species surviving in the order
Probocidea. Both genera originated in
sub-Saharan Africa in the early
Pleistocene; Loxondonta remained in
Africa, but Elephas moved into Asia
during the late Pleistocene.
This chapter serves to give a general
introduction to the Asian elephant. In
describing the lifestyle of a species, it
is often convenient to lump all
members of the species together and
say, for example, “elephants live in
families”
“elephants
prefer
to
aggregate”, “elephants are seasonal
breeders”, or elephants are browsers”.
But the study of Asian elephants
reveals their social complexity and
flexibility,
and
their
ecological
adaptability.
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THE ORIGINS OF THE ELEPHANT
Today’s elephants are part of the
order Proboscidea which consists of
modern elephants and their extinct
relatives
such
as
mastodons,
mammoths, and gomphotheres.
Miocene about 22 million years ago
and is thought of as part of the
second radiation of Proboscidea.
Proboscideans may have first evolved
in Africa, but both the fossil record
and modern elephant distributions
show us that they didn’t remain
confined to Africa forever. Upon the
closing of the Tethys Sea, the
landmasses of Africa and Eurasia
became reconnected. This allowed
members of the order to disperse
from Africa into Asia, Europe, and
eventually North America and South
America as well. The migration of
proboscideans
from
Africa
into
Eurasia first began in the early
Mammutidae (mastodons) originated
in Africa in the early Miocene, but by
the late early Miocene they had
spread into Europe. In the middle
Miocene they had migrated across
Asia, and eventually entered into
North America by crossing the Bering
Land Bridge. Mastodons are found in
the fossil record of North America as
recent as only 12,000 years ago.
Mammutidae
Page 3
Gomphotheriidae
Elephantidae
The gomphotheres were a group of
proboscideans that often featured two
upper tusks and two spatulate lower
tusks. By the early Miocene the
gomphotheres had already spread
through much of Africa, Europe, and
Asia, soon followed by migrations into
North America via the Bering land
bridge in the middle Miocene. In the
Pleistocene, the gomphotheres even
reached South America.
Elephantidae consists of elephants
(including
those
still
alive
today),mammoths, and other extinct
relatives. They originated in Africa
about 6-8 million years ago during
the Miocene and members of the
family dispersed into Asia and
Europe multiple times through the
mid and late Pliocene. When
mammoths went extinct ~4,000
years ago, that left the modern Asian
and African elephants (Elephas
maximus, Loxodonta cyclotis, and
Loxodonta africana, respectively) as
the last surviving members of not
only Elephantidae, but Proboscidea
as a whole.
Stegodontidae
The stegodontids are a family of
proboscideans that are thought to
have evolved from gomphotheres
somewhere in Asia. They looked a lot
like modern elephants on the outside,
but had very different teeth. The
stegodontids lived from the early to
middle
Miocene
into
the
late
Pleistocene and were spread across
Asia and Africa.
ELEPHANTS THAT CAN BE SEEN TODAY
Page 4
Page 4
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN AN
AFRICAN AND SRI LANKAN
ELEPHANT
Approximately 7.5 million years ago
the The ancestors of the African and
Asian elephants on this planet were
separated and thus began to evolve
separately in the African and Asian
continents. It is due to the diversity of
these two habitats that the African and
Asian elephants have evolved with
anatomies that have many differences.
Ribs up to twenty one pairs
Number of toe nails fore feet (4) hind
feet(3)
De-pigmentation absent
Sri Lankan Elephants
African Elephants
Height 3.5m
Weight 4000-7500kg
Back Concave
Forehead no humps
Tip of trunk two finger like projections
Ears large with no folds
Tusks borne by both male and females
Grinding surface of teeth Contains
diamond shaped plates
Height 3m
Weight 3000-6000kg
Back flat or convex
Forehead has two humps
Tip of trunk one finger like projection
Ears relatively small with folds
Tusks borne by only males
Grinding surface of teeth contains
oval shaped plates
Ribs up to twenty pairs
Number of toe nails fore feet (5) hind
feet (4)
De-pigmentation present
Page 5
CHARACTERISTICS
SOCIAL STRUCTURE AND
BEHAVIOUR
Asian elephants live in a fluid and
dynamic social system in which males
and females live in separate, but
overlapping spheres. Related females
and their immature offspring live in
tightly knit matriarchal family units,
while males live a more solitary
independent existence with few social
bonds.
Female society
Female elephant society consists of
complex multitiered relationships
extending from the mother offspring
bond to family units, bond groups and
clans. The basic social unit is the
family which is composed of one to
several related females and their
immature offspring, and may range in
size from two to 30 individuals.
Elephants appear to benefit from
being part of a large family. Related
females will form defensive units
against perceived danger and will
form
coalitions
against
other
nonrelated females or males.
Members of families or bond groups
display a special greeting ceremony,
show a high frequency of association
over time, act in a coordinated
manner, exhibit affiliative behavior
toward one another and are usually
related
Male society
Male elephants leave their natal
families at about 14 years of age.
Newly independent young males may
follow several different courses to
social maturity. Some young males
leave their families only to join up
with another family for a couple of
years. Others go off to bull areas and
join up with bull groups, while still
others stay in female areas moving
from family to family.
Adult male elephants exhibit a period
of heightened sexual and aggressive
activity
known
musth.
During
sexually inactive and non-musth
periods males spend time alone or in
small groups of other males in
particular bull areas, where their
interactions are relaxed and amicable.
During active musth periods males
leave their bull areas move in search
of females, which time they are likely
to be found alone or in association
with groups of females. Among
musth
males,
dominance
is
determined by a combination of
body size and condition. Two closely
matched males will often fight,
sometimes to the death of one of
them
Page 6
Qestrus and musth
The oestrous period lasts for four to
six days. It has been postulated that
ovulation and conception occur
during mid-oestrus when females are
guarded and mated by a high-ranking
musth male. Oestrous females attract
males by exhibiting conspicuous
behaviour,
calling
loudly
and
frequently, and producing urine with
particular olfactory components. If a
female does not conceive she will
come into oestrus again three months
later if she is still in good condition.
During musth, males secrete a
viscous liquid from swollen temporal
glands just behind the eyes; they
leave a trail of strong smelling urine,
and call repeatedly in very low
frequencies. A male’s testosterone
levels rise to over five times his nonmusth levels, and musth males
behave
extremely
aggressively
toward other males, particularly
those also in musth
Individual males attempt to locate,
guard and mate with as many
oestrous females as possible during
their musth periods.
Birth and calf development
Elephants are born after a gestation
period of 22 months with the average
birth weight of males being 120kg,
20-30kg more than that for females.
The energetic requirements of calves
are
met
exclusively
by
milk
consumption for the first three
months of life. After this age calves
begin to feed independently with the
time spent feeding increasing rapidly
between four and 24 months when it
levels off to about 55% of daily time.
The majority of calves suckle until
the birth of the next calf, but some
calves are weaned before the birth of
the next calf, while others continue to
suckle after their sibling’s birth.
Page 7
ELEPHANT COMMUNICATION
Elephants communicate vocally using
a wide variety of sounds, from the
higher frequency screams, trumpets,
snorts and bellows to the lower
frequency rumbles which contain
components below the level of
human hearing, some as low as 14Hz.
The ability of elephants to produce
these very low frequency sounds, at
sound pressure levels of up to 102dB
at 5m, means that they are,
theoretically, able to communicate
with one another over distances of 510km, even in thick forest.
The fundamental differences in male
and female elephant society are no
better revealed than by the striking
sex difference in the number and
variety of vocalizations each uses .
Females use some 22 different
vocalizations while males use only
seven; only three of these calls are
made by both sexes.
DIET
An elephant’s diet may include grass,
herbs, bark, fruit and tree foliage. In
savanna habitats grass may make up
70% of the elephants’ diet in the wet
season, with larger proportions of
browse contributing to their diet as
the dry season progresses. In tropical
forest, an elephant’s diet may include
as many as 230 species with leaves,
twigs, bark and fruit constituting over
90% of all items eaten.
Elephants need a combination of
grassland in which they graze and
leaves from shrubs and trees to
browse. Bacteria in their stomachs
break down the cellulose in the plant
matter. Baby elephants are born
without this bacteria. Baby elephants
ingest the dung of adults. This must
be an instinctive response that
enables them to obtain the microflora
they need in their stomachs for
digestion. Asian elephants consume
round 150kg of vegetable matter in a
day.
Page 8
INTERACTION
SRI LANKAN ELEPHANTS
Sri Lanka holds an important position
with regard to Asian elephant
conservation. Well over 10% of the
global Asian elephant population in
less than 2% of elephant range makes
Sri Lanka the range country with the
highest density of elephants. It also
has one of the highest human
densities among range countries.
Therefore successes and failures in Sri
Lanka can provide critical insights
into
mitigating
human-elephant
conflict and conserving elephants. In
addition Sri Lankan elephants are
recognized as a distinct subspecies.
Although genetic support for a subspecific distinction is low, Sri Lanka
has the highest genetic diversity
of Asian elephants.
wooden carvings, many fine examples
of which can be found in the ancient
cities
of
Sri
Lanka
such
as
Polonnaruwa,
Anuradhapura
and
Kandy as well as contemporary places
of worship.
Sri Lanka have a very close association
with elephants that extends back
millennia.
Characterization
of
elephants such as the division into
‘castes’, and the management of
captive elephants has been the subject
of many ancient treatises. Elephant
motifs have been widely used in Sri
Lankan art since ancient times. They
are a prominent feature of stone and
Page 9
WILD ELEPHANTS
Sri Lanka is an island of 65,000 km2.
The southwest quarter of the island
known as the ‘wet zone’, receives rain
throughout the year. The rest of Sri
Lanka has seasonal rainfall and is
known as the ‘dry zone’. Central
mountains rise up to about 2500 m.
The
natural
vegetation
is
dry
evergreen forest in the dry zone, rain
forest in the wet zone and montane
forest in the mountains.
Prior to human presence, most of the
country was covered in mature forest
and elephants probably inhabited the
entire island. Elephant densities were
likely in the range of 0.1-0.2 elephants
/km2 with a total of around 6,00012,000 elephants. The advent of
people and especially the rise of a
‘hydraulic civilization’ based on
irrigated agriculture in the dry zone
around 2500 years ago caused
significant environmental changes and
likely impacted elephant numbers and
distribution profoundly.
However shifting cultivation and the
construction of innumerable fresh
water
reservoirs
for
irrigated
agriculture would have enriched the
habitat for elephants, allowing higher
densities in fringe areas. Large
numbers of elephants were captured
and domesticated for local use and
export. With the rise and fall of
kingdoms and shifting of centers of
civilization,
elephant
populations
would have alternately become locally
extirpated and abundant.
Current elephant distribution in Sri
Lanka. Areas of distribution are
demarcated by a heavy red line.
Elephants are absent in polygons
demarcated by a thin red line. Green
polygons denote DWC protected
areas. Numbers and letters indicate
areas referred to in the text: N=North,
NW=Northwest,
NC=North-central,
S=South, E=East, 1=Udawalawe NP,
2=Lunugamvehera NP, 3=Yala NP,
4=Yala NP Block I, 5=Bundala NP,
6=Mattala,
7=Sinharaja,
8=Adam’s
Peak, 9=Minneriya-Kaudulla NPs and
Hurulu Reserve, 10=Kala Wewa,
11=Wilpattu NP
Current elephant distribution
Page 10
ELEPHANTS ON CULTURAL
ASPECTS
Elephants hold a central position in
the country’s two main religions
Buddhism and Hinduism as well as in
Sri Lankan culture. The elephant is
considered a symbol of physical and
mental
strength,
intelligence,
responsibility,
good
luck
and
prosperity. Elephants are kept in a
number of temples and feature
prominently in annual pageants
named ‘peraheras’. The most famous is
held in August in the city of Kandy,
which features up to a hundred richly
caparisoned elephants festooned with
lights, together with thousands of
drummers, musicians, dancers, torch
bearers etc. The highpoint of the
Kandy perahera is the ceremonial
exposition of the tooth relict of the
Lord Buddha carried on the back of a
majestic tusker of the highest ‘caste’.
ECONOMY AND TOURISM
Sri Lanka has been identified as one of
the most popular destinations in the
world by many travel experts. Despite
the many attractions, there is one
thing that tourist visiting Sri Lanka
never miss is the elephants. Many
tourist visit Sri Lanka engaging in
activities such as elephant safaris,
elephant back rides, participating
cultural events which use elephants.
With this background it can be
identified that elephants play a vital
role in Sri Lanka's tourism industry
and economy. They attract tourist
who visit national parks to observe
elephants in the wild. According to the
report by the Department of wildlife,
2587.97
million
rupees
was
contributed to Sri Lankan
economy.
Page 11
CONSERVATION
HUMAN-ELEPHANT CONFLICT
Over the past century the human
population has increased rapidly
resulting in extensive areas of land
being acquired for human habitation,
farming
and
infrastructure
development. This expansion has
resulted in a loss of habitat for
elephants,
disruption
of
their
movement patterns and their access to
food and water. The result has been a
conflict in land use between human
and
elephants.
Faced
with
a
diminishing habitat, elephants stray
into areas of human habitation
causing damage to property, crops
and human life as well.
death to elephants. Over the past 15
years alone this conflict has claimed
nearly 2000 elephants and 836 human
lives. The highest number of conflicts
occur in the Northwestern, Central,
Eastern and Southern Provinces of Sri
Lanka.
Statistics show that in this conflict
male mortality is higher in both
elephants and humans. This is due to
the fact that more than 80% of the
intrusions are attributed to bull
elephants, while it is men that are
primarily engaged in protecting
farmland and property.
In trying to protect their life and
property humans cause injury and
Page 12
CAPTIVE ELEPHANTS
ELEPHANT TRANSIT HOME
Captive elephants have been a central
feature of Sri Lankan civilization since
antiquity. Ancient kings maintained
stables of elephants that numbered in
the thousands, including hundreds
of war elephants.
In the colonial period the Portuguese
and Dutch rulers had a monopoly
over
the
ownership
of
all
domesticated elephants. Later the
Dutch allowed the local Chieftains,
who captured wild elephants for their
colonial masters as tribute, to keep
one or two. This is how the tradition
of elephant keeping by private owners
started in Sri Lanka.
Currently elephants are kept by
temples, private owners, the National
Zoological Gardens at Dehiwala, the
Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage and
the Elephant Transit Home at
Udawalawe. Some temples and private
owners have been given young
elephants from Pinnawela.
Captive elephants in Sri Lanka do not
have any opportunities to interact
with wild elephants. There have been
very few births in captive elephants
outside of the Pinnawela Elephant
Orphanage. Currently there are
around 112 captive elephants in Sri
Lanka with temples and private
owners. Captive elephant numbers
have decreased steadily over the years.
The ETH was set up to take care of
orphaned elephants until they are fit
enough to be released back to the wild.
Orphaned elephants brought to the
ETH are treated and taken care of for
about three years. The mortality rate
of arrivals is around 40%. They remain
as a group during the day and are kept
in a stall for the night. They are bottle
fed every 4 hours throughout the 24
hours. An entrance fee is charged
from visitors to the ETH and they can
observe elephants being bottle fed. An
information
centre
set
up
in
collaboration with the Dilmah Trust,
provides information on elephants
to visitors.
Page 13
MANAGEMENT OF CAPTIVE
ELEPHANTS
PINNAWELA ELEPHANT
ORPHANAGE
Other elephants held by temples and
private owners are mostly single
animals. They are mainly used in
pereheras. A few elephants still work
in handling logs etc. and some are
engaged in giving rides to tourists
especially in Habrana. Elephant
owners lobby for legalizing wild
captures and releasing elephants from
Pinnawala or the ETH on the
argument that the captive population
is declining and that it is essential to
maintain the cultural and religious
traditions associated with elephants.
Veterinary care for captive elephants
is provided by the University of
Peradeniya Veterinary Faculty, DWC
and private veterinarians. Some
owners and mahouts prefer traditional
medicine to western.
HEC results in baby elephants
becoming orphaned due to the
mother’s death or abandonment. The
Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage was
set up in 1975 to take care of such
orphans. Started with five orphaned
baby elephants, the addition of
orphans continued till 1995 when the
Elephant Transit Home was created
by the DWC. Since then, orphaned
babies have been taken to the ETH
and addition to the Pinnawela herd
has been mostly through births
occurring there. So far Pinnawela has
recorded 69 births – 38 males and 31
females. Currently there are 88
elephants (37 males and 51 females) in
Pinnawela representing 3 generations.
There are 48 mahouts (handlers)
to look after them.
Page 14