Elephants

Elephants
By Taylor

Elephants have been used as a form of transportation for many years. Believe it or not, in 331 B.C., a Macedonian army rode elephants into battle. In 218 B.C., one of the most famous generals in history, Hannibal, used elephants to help his troops cross over the Alps to invade Italy. Today elephants are used for transportation in many places such as Africa, Thailand, and India.

The elephant is the largest animal that lives on land. The elephant is the second tallest animal; the tallest animal is the giraffe. One unique thing about an elephant is that it is the only animal that uses its nose (called a trunk) as a way to move and grab things. They use their trunk as a hand. Elephants also have the largest teeth. Not inside their mouth, but on the outside. Their tusks!

Taking a ride on an elephant can be very tricky. Elephants are very tall so people need help getting up and getting down. One way to get on an elephant is to have the elephant go to a tall "footboard" made of bamboo. From there, you step across the head to the back and sit down in a small wooden chair. Another way to get on an elephant is to have the elephant kneel down while people help you mount the elephant. Mahouts, elephant drivers and keepers, have special commands that tell elephants to go, stop, turn around, open their mouth, pick things up, drop things, push or pull things, and to stretch out their trunk. You can expect a bumpy ride. Sometimes riders are expected to sit directly on the elephant. In this case, you will need to hold onto the elephant's forehead and dig your heels into the side of its neck. You kick left to go left and right to go right. If your elephant stops to eat bamboo along the way, just give it a slap to get it moving again.

Elephants are vegetarians, and spend up to 16 hours a day just collecting food! Some of the foods they eat are: leaves, twigs, tree bark, roots, and small amounts of fruit, seeds and flowers. An adult elephant can consume 300 to 600 pounds of food each day!

Because many people have hunted elephants for their ivory tusks, there are probably no more than 35,000 to 40,000 elephants left in the wild. Elephants are now an endangered species. Because there are people who care about the elephants, they are roaming free in Southern China, Sri Lanka, Indochina, Southeastern Asia, Thailand, Indonesia, and in the mountains of India. Elephants are currently being used in Indonesia helping people with Tsunami relief.

The natural life span of an elephant is about 70 years. Because the elephant walks on its toes, it’s the ultimate off-road vehicle, getting tremendous traction even on slippery mud.

Citations

Online Resources

"Elephant." Elephant [Print Article] - World Book Online Reference Center. 08 February 2005. <http://www.worldbookonline.com/wb/PrintArticle?id=ar177700&st=Elephants>.

"Elephant." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 09 February 2005. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant>.

"Elephants." ENDANGERED In The Wild: Africa. 08 March 2005. <http://www.bagheera.com/inthewild/van_anim_elephant.htm>.

Johnson, Ed. "An elephant ride into the Thai past." Times Leader. 09 October 2004. <www.timesleader.com/mld/thetimesleader/living/9860799.htm>.

Images

Permission to use photograph of elephant family is granted under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page>.

Permission to use photograph of elephant wiping eyes with truck granted under Creative Commons . Photograph by Aaron Logan <http://www.lightmatter.net/gallery/albums.php>.

Permission to use copyrighted photograph of people mounting elephant from World Is Round <http://www.worldisround.com/articles/10071/>: David Hariton. <david@hariton.com> "RE: Permission to Use Pictures." 30 March 2005. Personal e-mail.

Copyrighted animated elephant from "Microsoft Office Online" <http://office.microsoft.com/clipart/default.aspx?lc=en-us&cag=1> (October-March, 2004-2005). Clip art available only to licensed users for non-commercial purposes.