Sustainable living and the Asian Elephant

Sustainable living and the Asian Elephant

Endangered species

This photo is of an Asian Elephant. There massive tusks are for self defense and knocking down
food from trees.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_elephant

We were asked to discuss the uniqueness of an endangered species. I choose to do the Asian
Elephant presented above. This animal is so unique because of its size. One of the largest
land animal to date, which thrive in the tropical rainforest of Asia. They known to be
extremely sociable animals, forming groups up to seven relatable females, with the
oldest female as the head of the herd (World Wildlife Fund, 2018). Male elephants
rome and are competeive of territory by nature. Elephants adapt to their environment
by staying near a water source and staying in large groups for protection. Their ears
are made up of million small blood vessels creating their own cooling system
(The National Elephant Center, 2018). The Asian Elephant biome is the tropical
rainforest. The average temperature of the tropical rain forest is an average of
80 degrees fahrenheit with an average rainfall of 60-100 inches per year

This photo is of an Asian Elephant in their natural habitat in the Tropical Forest.

(African Wildlife Foundation, 2002).
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:THE_CAMOUFLAGED-_A_male_Elephant_at_
Jaldapara_Wildlife_Sanctuary,_West_Bengal.jpg

The soil of this biome is rich in carbon, which makes it suitable for plants. Vegetation
is the main source of food for the Asian Elephant.

The Asian Elephant spends ⅔ of their days eating. Their diet consists of grasses,
bark, roots, shrubs, leaves. Their favorite sweet treats are bananas, sugarcane
and rice (World Wildlife Fund, 2018). The Asian Elephant needs to drink at least
once a day consuming up to fifty gallons a day for survival. A natural threat to the
Asian Elephant would be a lack of food. Because these animals are so large they
need to eat around 200-600 pounds of food a day
(The National Elephant Center, 2018). There is also the high demand for land for
the vegetation to grow. This is threat to the Elephants because of deforestation.

Human impacts

A critical threat to all elephants has been poachers for their ivory tusks. It has
been illegal to internationally trade ivory since 1989. The elephant population
has had a sudden spike but regards to the last ten years there has been a
massive rapid decline (The National Elephant Center, 2018). Beautification
is what harms this species because of the want for ivory. Some countries still
have an illegal trade game. Ivory can be made in to many items for example
jewelry or hanging up the tusks as a trophy of game. There has been a high
demand in the last decade for ivory products because of historical culture mostly
in China (World Wildlife Fund, 2018).

With loss of Asian Elephants a general threat to the population is loss of males
which can lead to inbreeding of same gender. This genetic threat will result in
low birth rates and low breeding success. Mating between male elephants may
arise along with cross breeding with genetically different sub-populations
(World Wildlife Fund, 2018).

This photo is of an Asian Elephant and its young. This picture is to show the deforestation that
this species suffers from.

Nearly 30% of Asian Elephants are kept in captivity. Some countries like India
have banned the captivating of elephants to increase their population size of wild herds.
Other uses of elephants in timber, tourist attractions, or illegal wildlife
trade (World Wildlife Fund, 2018). https://pixabay.com/en/photos/jungle/?cat=food

Elephants are losing space due to human population growth. Elephants consume so plant
life that deforestation has greatly affect on their ideal environment and is a threat to their
survival.

Lifestyle changes

There are some active roles that organizations take part in to help the Asian Elephants.
For example WWF; World Wildlife Fund, is an organization to protect species and help

save endangered ones. Biodiversity conservation, and spread awareness among
communities are some of the activities WWF conduct (World Wildlife Fund, 2018).

There are elephant habitats in the Eastern Himalayas, the North Bank
Landscape and the Kaziranga Karbi-Anglong Landscape, and in the
Nilgiris Eastern Ghats Landscape in South India. In Cambodia local
staff patrols protected area and elephants are counted and numbered
for protection (World Wildlife Fund, 2018).

There is a local team called the Elephant Flying squad where villages
and farms can call to report elephants too close to human habitat.
This organization will herd them back into the wild. Most local villages
do not like elephants because they can stamped and destroy their
crops, some will shoot without regards. With help of the Elephant Flying
Squad both crops, homes and elephants can be saved. This also brings
awareness to struggling communities (World Wildlife Fund, 2018).

There is a protected area in Nepal that has routes for elephant migration
without encountering human habitats. The long term goal of WWF is to
reconnect 12 protected habitats and connect communities to Elephant
Human Contact. As mentioned before the soil of these areas are rich in
carbon the effects of deforestation is that high amounts of carbon to be
released into the atmosphere, greatly contributing to climate change
(World Wildlife Fund, 2018).

What the everyday person can do is not buy ivory products, help support
these organizations like WWF to stop ivory trade, organizations that help
elephants and humans coexist, and groups that support against
deforestation (The National Elephant Center, 2018).

References

The National Elephant Center (2018). Elephant Basics. Retrieved from:

http://www.nationalelephantcenter.org/learn/

World Wildlife Fund (2018) Asian Elephant. Retreived from: https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/asian-elephant

African Wildlife Foundation (2002). Southeast Asian Climate. Retrieved from:

http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/se_asian_rnfrstclimate.htm