The official title of the world’s largest land dwelling animal belongs to the elephant, more specifically, the African elephant. Elephants are some of the most deadly animals, which increases the danger of human and elephant interactions. Increased human and elephant interactions lead to increased deaths of both humans and elephants. Surprisingly, these animals are socially apt. The trunk is used for more than just eating and drinking; it is used for socializing. They are complex animals who live in large familial herds. Females stay with their family throughout their entire lives while males only stay for approximately fifteen years (Elephant Protection 1). Elephants possess a great memory and only forget what they learn occasionally and rarely, giving way to the “an elephant never forgets” saying (Maloiy 178c). Because of the shortened life span and increased mortality rates, elephants may not be around much longer. Due to their incisor teeth, tusks, being extremely expensive and profitable, they are being murdered for the wealth they carry. This, coupled with the life span shortening because of malicious treatments and brutal practices, reduces the life span of the African elephant from fifty-six to sixteen years and the Asian elephant from forty-two to nineteen years (Elephant Protection 1). According to what the statistics show, elephants may be following their ancestors to their death. Of the group of mammals called proboscideans that once consisted of 350 species, elephants are the only survivors. Wildlife experts classify elephants as endangered, which means the animals require human protection in order to survive. Because elephant populations drastically declined over the last few years and they are listed as endangered, ...
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...ely Endangered.” Weblog post. ABC News. ABC News Network, 5 June 2013. Web. 13 Mar. 2014.< http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=98733>
Maloiy, G. “Elephant.” World Book Encyclopedia. Vol. 6. Chicago:1985. pp. 178-180
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“Why are elephants endangered?” Ecological Problems. Google, 23 Sept. 2010. Web. 8 Apr. 2014.
Have you ever wondered how animals interact and work together to get a job done? Many times, animals put their minds together to complete a task. But what many people do not realize is that animals interact with one another just as humans would. In many instances, people don’t realize the amount of intelligence and common sense that animals, such as the elephant, possess. The study of elephant’s thoughts and thinking were explained and backed up through three different mediums. This information was explained through articles, videos, and passages. Combined, these pieces of work clarified what the experiment was, what it was testing, the purpose behind it, and how the different pieces were
Each author has the same purpose in writing about the elephant studies and there are many similarities and differences in which the elephants behaved.
...ith elephants. If poaching continues to increase as it has in the past, the elephants may not only lose their tusks, but they may also become extremely endangered or extinct.
The excerpt from Elephants Know When They Need a Helping Trunk is about the exact procedures and results of the same experiment that Elephants Can Lend a Helping Trunk was about. It contains the precise physical dimensions of every part of the test, and detailed explanations of each step that was followed to preform the test. Little to no opinions, quotes, or even conclusions that could be drawn were included, due to the strict, formal, and informational nature of the passage. The author's purpose was purely to explain all parts of the elephant study, and not at all to entertain or persuade.
While humans often consider themselves as the sole organisms in possession of the remarkable quality that is intelligence, a relatively miniscule array of creatures possess a comparable mental capacity, including the elephant, which has recently undergone a thorough test in order to assess their grasp of the concept of cooperation. In the video “Elephants Show Cooperation”, the article “Elephants Can Lend a Helping Trunk”, and the passage from “Elephants Know When They Need a Helping Trunk in a Cooperative Task”, the authors illustrate the wisdom of these animals. The entirety of them present the reader with the aforementioned experiment in order to support this claim, and several pieces remark that elephants’ intelligence rivals that of
The common name is the African Elephant, the scientific name is Loxodonta Africana, the phylum is Vertebrata, the class is Mammalia, the order is Proboscidea, and the family is Elephantidae. The Closest Relatives to the African Elephant are: the Asian Elephant, mammoths, primitive proboscidean (mastodons), sea cows, and hyraxes. Scientists believe that the African Elephant evolved from one of its closest relatives, the Sea Cow. The geographical location and range of the African elephant covers all of central and southern Africa. In Ethiopia there are isolated populations that exist around Lake Chad in Mali and Mauritania. Also in Kenya, Rhodesia, Tanzania, Zambia, Uganda, Zaire, and in National parks located in South Africa, as well as several other countries. African Elephants, originally, were found in all of the Sub-Saharan African habitats except desert steppes. Elephants still occupy diverse habitats such as: temperate grassland, tropical savanna and grass lands, temperate forest and rainforest, tropical rainforest, tropical scrub forest, and tropical deciduous forest despite their drastic decline in numbers. However, their migratory patterns and habitat use have changed, due to the fact that they are restricted to protected areas. The elephant can exist in many types of environments but it prefers places that have many trees and bushes, which the elephant needs both for food and shade. They also like warm areas that have plenty of rainfall.
It is the highest rank that an elephant capturer can attain (Worall). This “power” has never been scientifically studied, but the people of both Burma and Thailand believe that this phenomenon exists. There are not many Khru Ba Yai left, it is said that there are a few still alive in both Burma and Thailand (Worall). These individuals became incredibly important when elephants went into “musth.” Several times a year, bull elephants go into a period called musth, a period of temporary madness. When in this state, bull elephant’s aggressiveness, testosterone levels, and mating drive spikes tremendously (Ogden). Studies have found that bull elephants are flooded with up to ten times as much testosterone as usual causing them to attack other elephants, mahouts, or anything else they may see as a threat (Ogden). In Elephant Run, Nick is given a first-hand look at how horrifying an encounter with a bull elephant in musth can be. “…The bull had uprooted every plant within reach and had plowed the ground around him into soft loam with his heavy tusks. As they approached, he started straining against his ropes in an effort to get to them” (Smith 59). However, something incredible transpired soon after Nick witnessed the roped up and infuriated bull elephant. “The monk stepped closer to the mad bull. He put his hands on one of his tusks and he leaned his old shaved head toward the bull’s ear, as if he were saying something to him” (Smith 61). The bull then relaxed after the monk named ‘Hilltop’ spoke to it. The Khru Ba Yai are a mysterious group with very few numbers in existence. It is a practice that seems utterly impossible but is ingrained in the Burmese culture as reality. The mahout tradition and practice is something so unique and utterly incredible, they risk life and limb to train and work with these magnificent animals. Interestingly enough, the mahouts of Burma actually helped in
Elephants, although they are very large animals, are known to be graceful and sociable. They are among one of the most intelligent, sensitive animals on the planet, perhaps even approaching human intelligence and emotion. But lately, their behavior has changed. When we hear stories of elephants being violent we have to remember that they are wild animals. The fact that we have become so used to seeing them around people does not mean that as a whole they have become domesticated. According to many sources cited by Charles Siebert in his essay “An Elephant Crackup?” one of the reasons given to explain this weird change of behavior was “the precipitous collapse of elephant culture.”
“Elephants know when they need a helping hand-or rather, trunk.” In the video, Elephants Show Cooperation, the article, Elephants Can Lend a Helping Trunk, and the passage from Elephants Know When They Need a Helping Trunk in a Cooperative Task, the authors illustrate the intelligence of these animals. They all show an experiment that proves this claim. Elephants “join the elite club of social cooperators: chimpanzees, hyenas, rooks, and humans.” Their cognitive ability even suprises the researchers. Not only do they make wise decisions, but they cooperate with others. All three sources depict the sagacity of these remarkable creatures.
Elephants are an endangered species and they should not be killed for their ivory or they will become extinct. In the article The Poaching Problem the author writes” elephant populations have declined to dangerously low levels.” At the rate that poachers are killing these innocent animal the entire species of elephants will be extinct in the year 2030! That is only twenty five years, I know that does not seem like a long time but it is going to go by fast and every one will regret killing all those poor innocent gentle creatures. In case study 483 they author writes “ During the 1970s and 1980s elephant poaching had included about 1.3 million elephants killed for their tusks.” It is hard to distinguish between legal and illegal ivory so it is sold easily.
Cohn, Jeffrey P. "Do Elephants Belong In Zoos?" Bioscience 56.9 (2006): 714-717. Academic Search Premier. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
The African elephant’s range has declined by over 50 percent since 1979 – and their populations are breaking up
One thing these organizations have failed to do is completely stop it and capture the people doing it. The World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) was founded in 1961 to focus on Africa’s unique conservation needs. In the year 1967 a woman named Dian Fossey set up an expedition to study mountain gorillas. While doing the research she noticed the population declining and in the 1970’s officially made the species protected (WWF, 2016). In the late 1980’s and early 90’s the demand for elephant tusk went up tremendously. The population declined so much that the species was named most endangered. To help protect the elephants, since the numbers were declining, the WWF opened up another conservation. This allowed the elephants to get their population numbers back to where they were originally. Even though the conservations allowed the elephants to rebuild their population, it still didn’t prevent
Due to lack of the lack of management and resources in the conservation programs has led to a further increase in poaching which has triggered to drastic decline in elephant populations. According to the Huffington post, a reputable news source, it reports, “an estimated 22,000 elephants were illegally killed across Africa in 2012”. In February alone there were as many as “650 elephants killed in a matter of days” If the elephant death continues at such a rapid rate it could lead to their demise. “Elephant poaching could wipe out 20 percent of African population in [the] next decade” (Huffington Post). An extinction in elephants would mean the possibly of many other species becoming endangered of going extinct as well.
In the world today there are about five thousand endangered species. Around one specie dies out every year. Some animals become endangered because people are killing them for their horns, as in the case of the Black Rhino of Africa. Others become extinct because pesticides are put on the food we eat, causing the animals that eat the insects off the plant to become contaminated, which causes their predators to become contaminated, which often affects the shell of that organism?s egg. Here is a list of the endangered species, 91 endangered birds, 76 endangered mammals, 36 endangered reptiles, 21 endangered amphibians, 115 endangered fish, 70 endangered clams, 35 endangered snails, 44 endangered insects, 12 endangered arachnids, 21 endangered crustaceans, 594 endangered flowering plants.