Swahili
Name: Ndovu
or Tembo
Maasai
Name: Oltome
Scientific
Name: Loxodonta Africana
Height: 2.5m to 4m
Weight:
Male – 5 to 6 Tonnes, Female – 2.5 to
3.5 tonnes
Lifespan:
60 years
Gestation
Period: 22 months; have one young
Length
of Tusks: 3.5m
Food:
Herbivore; eats
200kg a day; drinks up to 300 liters of water.
It is a huge mammal characterized
by a long muscular snout and two long, curved tusks. The elephant is highly
intelligent and strong. It is the largest land animal and among the longest
lived, with life spans of 60 years or more. A healthy, full-grown elephant have
no natural enemies other than humans.
In Thailand, India and
other Southeast Asian countries, elephants are highly revered and honored
therefore beautifully decorated and very important in traditional religious
ceremonies. According to the National Geographic, over the past 40 million
years, more than 600 species of elephants have roamed the earth. Today only
three species remain—the savanna
elephant and the forest elephant of
Africa, and the Asian elephant.
 |
| An Elephant at Mwaluganje Elephant Sanctuary |
The
elephant remains endangered with highly decreasing numbers from 5 million to 10
million at the turn of 20th century to 400,000 to 500,000 at the end
of the same century. The decline is attributed to widespread
hunting-cum-poaching and destruction of their habitat.
In Kenya alone, efforts
to conserve this mammal started in 1972 when Cynthia Moss founded the African Wildlife Foundation’s
Amboseli Elephant Research Project. Since then, Moss has documented the complex
social interactions of more than 1,600 elephants, greatly broadening the
scientific understanding of these magnificent creatures. She has published her
research in a number of books that highlight the plight of endangered elephants
and the need for extensive conservation efforts if these animals are to survive.
Sources: National Geographic || AWF || Mwaluganje ElephantSanctuary
