E 4 ELEPHANTS

Introduction

The elephant is the largest land mammal on earth. There are two living species: the African Elephant and the Asian Elephant (also known as the Indian Elephant). Other species have become extinct since the last ice age, the Mammoths being the best-known of these.

The elephant's gestation period is 22 months, the longest of any land animal. At birth it is common for an elephant calf to weigh 120 kilograms. An elephant may live as long as 70 years, sometimes longer. The largest elephant ever recorded was shot in Angola in 1956. This male weighed about 12,000 kilograms (26,000 lb) with a shoulder height of 4.2 metres (14 ft), a metre. The smallest elephants, about the size of a calf or a large pig, were a prehistoric species that lived on the island of Crete during the Pleistocene epoch

The elephant has been an icon for humanity for thousands of years, appearing in cultures across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. They are symbols of wisdom in Asian cultures and are famed for their memory and high intelligence. The word "elephant" has its origins from Greek, meaning "ivory" or "elephant".

Healthy adult elephants have no natural predators, although lions may take calves or weak individuals. They are, however, increasingly threatened by human intrusion and poaching. Once numbering in the millions, the African elephant population has dwindled to between 470,000 and 690,000 individuals. The elephant is now a protected species worldwide, with restrictions in place on capture, domestic use, and trade in products such as ivory.