Wild Facts

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.

The video below will expand on the discussions in the Wild Stories post about elephant altruism.  This video tells the tale of elephants coming into help out a fellow family member.  As well, in the video they talk about elephants communicating using a pitch that humans can’t hear.  This is the same communication technique that Giraffes use, as mentioned in Wild Fact #999.

I discussed in a previous blog post that elephants may have deeper feelings with death, similar to humans.  I didn’t mention what elephants do when they see elephant remains but this video will give some insight into the deeper complexities and emotions of elephants.

After I posted Wild Fact #992 – A Death in the Family I came across some interesting stories about elephants showing sensitivity and altruism.  I started to think that there are probably a lot of stories out there that display the capacity of animal intelligence. So as an added bonus I will pass along these fascinating stories as I come across them.

I will start with one that I found about the gentle nature of elephants.

The Ranch Herder

This is a story I came across from a book titled “Coming of Age with Elephants” by Joyce Poole. She retold a story about a ranch herder that was by himself in the wilderness when he came across a family of elephants.  The matriarch, being the protective leader, charged the ranch herder and broke one of his legs.  I know this doesn’t sound like a very altruistic behaviour but just bear with me.  When the herder didn’t arrive home that night they sent a search party out to look for him.  They found the man without any difficulties, however, they had to deal with a protective elephant guarding the wounded man.  Once they scared the elephant away the ranch herder told them that he was unable to stand up.  The man recounted how the elephant lifted the man with her trunk and placed him under a shady tree.  From then on she spent the day guarding the man and would gently touch him with her trunk from time to time.  This shows the true altruism of elephants as the elephant would not benefit from spending her day looking after a human.

If you are interested in hearing about more from Joyce Poole and how she grew up studying the behaviour of elephants then be sure to pick up her book: Coming of Age With Elephants