Mammals, Original Wild Facts

Wild Fact #564 – Shot Gun! – Sri Lankan Elephant

Photo by Bernard Gagnon (Wikimedia)

For a little while now, I have had the strongest desire to write about the elephant again (I just find them fascinating).  I held off this urge since I have already talked about the Asian and African Elephants.  Well, today is the day, I succumb to my desires.  Yep, we are going to explore the world of the Sri Lankan Elephant which is simply a sub-species of the Asian Elephant.  Don’t worry, they are still just as interesting as all other elephants.  The Sri Lankan Elephant is the largest of all the Asian Elephant sub-species and there are quite a few sub-species so they should feel pretty special.

Believe it or not the Sri Lankan Elephant can be found on the island of Sri Lanka – shocking, right?! Apparently they somehow made it to this island from southern India.  This makes me ask the question, are elephants amazing swimmers?  I guess it really doesn’t matter how they got there as long as they made it.  Unfortunately, this particular Elephant no longer roams free across the island.  Since their natural habitat is being turned into fields, the Sir Lankan Elephant has been forced to live in a few National parks.  I guess the bright side is they are at least in a protected area so they should have a home for a little while longer.

Photo by Steve Garvie (Wikimedia)

This elephant sub-species believes in getting exercise which is why they have a strict migration route.  Okay, so maybe they don’t migrate just to get exercise but who knows, right?  They will typically migrate in between the wet and dry seasons, which is probably a very nice time of year to travel.  The eldest elephant of the herd has a very important task, one that is usually designated to the passenger riding shot-gun.  No, the oldest elephant is responsible for playing awesome road trip songs.  They are actually responsible for remembering the migration route – they are the navigators!

Sri Lankan Elephant – As a result of all the habitat loss the Sri Lankan Elephant is in danger of becoming extinct.  Although, we have set up some National parks for them to hang out in, they are still attacked by poachers looking for their ivory tusks.  These poor elephants just can’t win, can they?

Well, I feel better now that I was able to get another Elephant fact out of my system.  Make sure you tune in tomorrow to see what animal is next on the Wild Facts Countdown.

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