ELEPHANTS FOOD WEB

FOOD WEB

The elephant's most dangerous predator is the human. Besides our species, no other animal eats or hunts them. The elephant acts as a separate part of the grassland food web that consumes bark. The elephant eats more than bark though. They also consume grass, leaves, twigs, various types of fruit, and seed pods (2). Elephants can also feast upon farm crops (1). Elephants drink up to 30-50 gallons of water per day (2). Molars give elephants the ability to chew their food (1). Elephants have a large appetite. They can consume 300-400 lbs of food a day!

BEHAVIOR

During youth, the elephants learn how to manuver their trunk to properly feed themselves (2). Elephants can react and communicate to each through sounds. The sounds produced are loud and can be heard from miles away (1). Sound travels a different way. When an elephant makes a sound, the "rumble" produced travels through the ground and reaches other elephants skin. The sound travels faster through the ground than the air, but both ways are used (4). Elephants also have a powerful memory (4). Matriarchs use their memeory to guide their herd to water holes they have found in the past (4). It is said that elephants display human emotions such as "grief and joy" (4). Here's some more information about the herds- As said before, the matriarch leads the herd and is usually the largest and oldest female. The herd can range from eight to two hundred elephants (4). Male elephants will eventually leave the herd and wander alone or join other herds. The matriarch provides the strongholds of the herd and family.

THE TRUNK

Elephants differ from other mammals in strength, not only for their size, but this particular physical characteristic-the trunk. The trunk has multiple purposes. Not only can the trunk lift objects, they can virtually tear limbs off trees (1). The AWF Wildlife foundation defines the trunk "as a nose, hand, extra foot, signaling device and tool for gathering food, siphoning water, dusting, and digging" (2). Elephants use their trunk as a hose to spray themselves to keep cool (3). The trunk has the ability to dig holes during the dry season (3). Elephants do this to find water in underground springs and receive important minerals (3). Elephants can revive forests! When they consume fruit they excrete seeds and produce more trees (3). Therefore elephants keep trees growing in their habitat and trees depend on elephants to survive.

THE TUSKS

Did you know that tusks are used to identify a specific elephant? Similar to our right and left hand, elephants can be either right or left tusked. Elephants use their "favored side" more often to prevent damage for the other tusk (2).

THANK YOU FOR READING MY BLOG ! HERE ARE SOME MORE PICTURES!!

Picture sources: http://www.kenyatravelideas.com/images/Elephant_tusks.jpg- tusk picture

http://www.exploringnature.org/graphics/foodwebs/savannah_foodweb72.jpg - food web

http://www.sanparks.org/parks/kruger/elephants/images/anatomy/trunk-curled.jpg- trunk picture

http://americanelephant.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/elephant-baby-mom-2.jpg

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/02/images/060214_animal_love.jpg

ELEPHANTS IN THE MEDIA

STUDY SHOWS ELEPHANTS LIFE ARE NEGATIVELY AFFECTED IN ZOOS

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98184820
Although elephants remain safe from poaching and land destruction in captivity, I discovered alarming information regarding elephants life in the zoo. According to a report from npr, studies show that elephants live shorter lives in zoos. I posted this in response to a comment, which I assumed elephants lived longer in zoos. The study observed European zoos between a period of over forty years. The results show that elephants in the European zoos died by the age of 50 contradicting the normal lifespan of 70 years. I also learned from this article that Asian elephants face more danger with loss of species than the African elephant (although both are endangered). United States zoos calculated an even shorter life expectancy, the average ranging in the late forties. Critics argue that the elephants still recieve satisfactory food and medical service. They believe the report does not acknowledge the improvement in care at the zoos. Overall, it differs per zoo and the Asian elephants are at more a risk than African elephants. Scientists express the need to identify how to improve life in captivity and extend the life expectancy. Click on the link to read more on the story and watch the video. Hope this answers your questions. Picture from:http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98184820 shows an elephant in a European zoo

ELEPHANTS IN THE MOVIES: Check out the Disney movie Earth opening on April 22 (also Earth Day) which features the life of the elephant.

*More to come discussing life in captivity and the elephants food web *

*INTERESTING FACT : Elephants enjoy to examine tusks and bones from other dead elephants (1) .*

ELEPHANTS GEOGRAPHY AND ENDANGERMENT

GEOGRAPHY
Elephants can live anywhere that provides them with food sources(2). Elephants gather in large, grassy areas, with a lot of open space (2). A popular area for elephants exists in savannas and dry woodlands (1). Surprisingly, elephants reside in rainforests, deserts, and even the mountains (1). African elephants inhabit many zones of the savannah. The Asian elephants reside in areas such as India, Sri Lanka, China and a large expanse of Southeast Asia (5).
POPULATION
The population of the elephant has rapidly decreased. "At the start of the 20th century there were a few million African elephants and about 100,000 Asian elephants. Today, there are an estimated 450,000- 700,000 African elephants and between 35,000-40,000 wild Asian elephants" (5).

ENDANGERMENT
----- Elephants can live up to 70 years and yet they remain in danger------
Elephants face threats to their existence. Humans violate the habitat of the animals. Individuals poach elephants for their ivory tusks (5).
What have we done?
Since humans generally cause much of the species endangerment, we have generated some laws of protection.
CITES- Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species- places restrictions on the sale of ivory (5)
Endangered Species Act - the act identifies animals who face endangerment and develop methods to protect these species (5)
Photo sources- http://www.awf.org/content/gallery/detail/3987
*Elephant Interesting Fact: Elephants represent some of the most intelligent animals. They communicate uniquely and interact socially. They also are very intelligent.*

BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO ELEPHANTS!

OVERVIEW : There exists two different species of the elephant, the African and Asian Elephant.

African Elephant:
Order: Proboscidea
Family: Elephantidae
Genus and Species: Loxodonta africana and L. cyclotis
Description: African elephants are large land mammals. (2) The african elephant further divides into the savanna and forest elephant (1). The forest elephant differs from the savanna because of its smaller size (1). The Elephant’s strong, muscular trunk helps this animal to grab hold of objects, cool off, and complete other necessary tasks. Asian Elephants have large padded feet which enable them to walk quietly, despite their large size (1). They have large ears that help them stay cool (1).African Elephants can extend 25 feet long and stand up to 11 feet tall, weighing nearly 14,000 pounds (1). African Elephants eat different foods depending on the season. They eat herbs and grasses during rainy season, and all other times fruit and bark (1). Both Elephants constantly splash water over themselves with their trunks to keep cool in the warm climate. Female Elephants can reproduce by the age of ten (1). Elephants travel in herds where the matriarch leads the clan (1). The males usually disperse from the herd (1). The herd mostly wanders in search of food (1).




Asian Elephant:
Order: Proboscidea
Family: Elephantidae
Genus and Species: Elephas maximus (1)
Description: The Asian Elephant amounts to an enormous size reaching 11,000 pounds and 21 feet long (1). They are large animals with a gray coloring that “conceals them in their shady habitat” (1). Most males contain tusks while females do not (1). The African and Asian Elephant use their trunks, feet, and ears for the same purpose. Both African and Asian Elephants have four legs, trunks, eyes, mouth, and tails. These Elephants are herbivores and eat various fruit, grasses, herbs and bark (1). At the Zoo’s Elephant’s also have access to hay unlike their natural resources (1). Female Asian Elephants can reproduce by the age of 14 (1).The Elephant lives a relatively long life of about 60 years but not all (1). Both Elephant’s travel in herds and communicate the same. Gestation is 22 months for both species (5). Note: So far in my research, most differences between the two species lie in their physical features, therefore; I used separation for the description and will not always use this format.

NEXT BLOG POST: ELEPHANTS HABITAT, GEOGRAPHICAL RANGE, AND MORE!
*Elephant Interesting Fact: The Elephant’s closest relatives are the dugongs, manatees, hyraxes, and aardvarks (1). *

Photo site: (2) http://www.awf.org/content/gallery/detail/3779