 |
| Latin name | Elephas maximus |
| Shoulder Height | 2.5 -3m (8 - 10ft) |
| Weight (Male) | up to 6,000kg (13,200lb) |
| Gestation | usually 1 |
| No. of young | 1, occasionally 2 |
| Lifespan | 60 - 70 years |
Asiatic elephants live in many different habitats, mostly forests but also plains and marshlands. Asian elephants are found from Bangladesh to China, India, through to Indonesia, West Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.
Elephants are herbivores and eat over 220 kg (440lb) of vegetation everyday. They eat many different types of grasses, trees and shrubs. This includes branches, leaves, roots, bark and any seasonal fruits and flowers.
At Woburn Safari Park their diet consists of many different types of grasses and trees within the Woburn Estate, bales of meadow hay, apples, bananas, carrots and cabbage. They also get sugar beet, bran and concentrated pellets with all of the vitamins and minerals they need to stay healthy. Elephants need to eat large quantities of food everyday because they have a very basic digestive system and extract less than 50% of the nutrients from their food. The rest is eliminated as waste in their dung!
Elephants become sexually mature at around ten years of age. Bulls are solitary, only coming into contact with the females for mating. Once a female is pregnant, her gestation period will last for around 18-22 months. When the calf is born it weighs around 100kg and stands one metre tall. The mother nurses her calf for up to four years and other female members of the herd act as 'aunties' to help to look after the calf.
The elephant's trunk has over 100,000 muscles and tendons, which is far more than we have in our entire body! The trunk is a combination of the elephant's top lip and nose. The tip of the trunk is very sensitive and has a 'prehensile tip' or finger that the elephant can use to pick up very small objects. The Asian elephant only has one of these 'fingers' whereas African elephants have two. The trunk is the elephant's lifeline and they are totally reliant on it for feeding and drinking. It also acts as the perfect snorkel!
Elephants flap their ears to keep cool. This motion regulates their body temperature by cooling blood that is circulating around the ear. African elephants have the larger ears out of the two species, because they live nearer the equator where it is hotter and they don't have the shade from the forest canopy.
Elephant's tusks are actually their incisor teeth. With the Asian elephants, only some males grow large ivory tusks. The females have smaller ivory 'tushes'. In the African species, both males and females have large tusks.
Asian elephants are an endangered species with only approximately 35,000 remaining in the wild, compared to the African elephant where there are around 600,000 remaining.
The most serious threat to the Asiatic elephant is habitat loss. Roads and railways are dividing the forests. Reservoirs are replacing forest valleys and large areas of forest are being cleared to make way for crops, cattle and housing development. Also, the traditional role of the elephant in logging camps is becoming less important due to mechanisation.
It is estimated that in 25 years the wild Asiatic elephant will be extinct. This makes a captive-breeding programme vital if they are to survive. The ivory trade is still an issue, although more so with the African elephant. During the 1980's it is estimated that an average of 2000 elephants a week were killed for their tusks.
- Woburn Safari Park has three Asian elephants:
- 'Chandrika', whose name means 'moonlight'. Born on 17th January 1992.
- 'Raja', whose name means 'King'. Born on 19th January 1994.
- 'Damini', whose name means 'electric'. Born on 15th March 1994.
- All three elephants were captive-bred in West Bengal, India and were brought to the park in March 1997. When they are old enough they will play an important part in the European Asian Elephant Breeding Programme.