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Why do people need elephant tusks. Why are elephants killed? Description of the African Elephant

A week ago I was visiting a friend, and she has a little son. Of course, you won’t come to visit without a gift, but he can’t have sweets. I chose a toy - an elephant. And here the children's why began. Most main question was, of course, about the elephant's trunk.

What do elephants look like and what do they eat?

I think many have ever been to a zoo and seen a live elephant. The size of this animal is impressive. It is the elephant that is considered the largest representative of land mammals. In height, an adult elephant can reach four meters. And his body weight can range from 3 to 7 tons. For example, the weight of the ordinary car about 1.5 tons.

The skin, probably, also significantly affects its weight, since the thickness of the animal's skin is 2.5 cm. The most important, probably characteristic features of an elephant, are its trunk and huge ears. It is the ears that save the elephants from the heat. They skillfully fan their body with them and achieve a cooling effect. An elephant's trunk consists of an upper lip and a nose. Mass is attached to this part of the body important functions.

Elephants spend most of their time eating food. Almost 16 hours a day, he is tirelessly engaged in eating various kinds of vegetation. The elephant's diet includes:

grass and roots;
tree leaves;
bananas;
apples.

AT natural conditions an elephant can easily eat 250–300 kg of vegetation. Elephants are still those water drinkers, they can drink 100-300 liters per day.

Why does an elephant need a trunk

The trunk is simply an irreplaceable part of the elephant's body. In length, it can be up to 1.5 meters, and weigh up to 150 kg. Just imagine, one elephant's trunk weighs like two average people. In the past, the ancestors of elephants could not boast of such a large trunk, they had it in the form of a small process, but in the process of evolution, significant changes occurred in the structure.

Thanks to the trunk, the elephant can:

carry heavy objects;
get your own food;
take water procedures;
feel good smells;
quench.

Elephants do not know how to properly use their trunks from birth. Elephants first teach their offspring this skill.

> Why does an elephant need a trunk?

Why does an elephant need a trunk?

An elephant's trunk is its upper lip, fused with its nose. This organ is extremely important for an elephant, because the animal does everything with its trunk. To save himself from the heat with the help of his trunk, he pours water, collecting it from any reservoir. Also, with the help of a trunk, an elephant plucks branches and leaves from trees and shrubs, so that later they can be eaten again with the help of a trunk, sending food to the mouth. The elephant also drinks. In other words, a trunk is to an elephant what hands are to a human. The trunk is also used by the elephant for communication. He can blow loudly into it, and the sound is heard for several kilometers so that other elephants can hear it. The trunk can also be an elephant's weapon. He can hit his opponent with it.

Why does an elephant need tusks?

An elephant's tusks are its upper teeth, which have grown to large sizes. For an animal, they have a certain importance. Male elephants have the largest tusks. They are longer and thicker than those of females, which is provided by nature itself. Indeed, during the mating season, males fight among themselves for the right to extend their kind with any female. The tusks at the same time act as a formidable weapon. An elephant can use its tool to protect its offspring. For example, an elephant can protect her cub from predators by using her tusks. Not every predator will want to mess with an elephant, because one of her blows can be fatal. Indian elephants sometimes help people: with the help of tusks they turn logs on logging (elephants in India are taught this from a very early age).

Where did the white elephant come from?

White (or rather, very light) elephants are extremely a rare thing. In Indochina, the rarity of the appearance of white elephants is explained in different ways. One of the "theories" says that this is the rebirth of some higher being. The other one is what good sign sent by heaven to the people and ruler. In any case, at all times, white elephants were greatly appreciated and surrounded with all sorts of honors.

Without exception, everyone on our planet knows what an elephant looks like. But not everyone can correctly tell and explain why he needs such an organ as a trunk. Let's first find out what the trunk is and what it looks like. Some people say that the trunk is some kind of nose. And someone believes that the trunk is a hand. But all these people are right, and the trunk has many functions.

First, it is considered an organ of smell, like a person's nose. The elephant will be able to long distance smell different smells if you turn the trunk to the side.

Secondly, the trunk can serve as a lip to the animal when it gets food and then puts it in its mouth. The trunk can also be the tool with which the elephant plucks leaves from trees and even draws water when it is hot and thirsty. That is, the trunk can also perform the functions of a hand. And if an elephant is suddenly bitten by midges, then it can scratch with its trunk or drive away annoying insects.

From time to time, an elephant uses its trunk to fight enemies. His blow can be so powerful that it will cripple the offender or even cause his death. AT old times colonialists from England used elephants for a very long time as labor force. Thanks to the properties of the trunk, it can carry things with great weight, clear the way in sparsely populated areas and cut down trees. During mating season the elephant must use the trunk, because only in this way can the male elephants get the attention of the female. But more importantly, with the help of a roar emitted by the trunk, these animals can communicate with their relatives and send messages to them. From this list of trunk functions, you can already understand that this body is indispensable for elephants.

Scientists have learned that the trunk used to be a lip, which eventually merged with the nose. And now the trunk is a very mobile and powerful muscular tube. As in all people the nose is divided by the nasal septum, so the elephant has two openings in the trunk. At its end are very small, but strong and trained muscles that serve as an elephant like fingers. Do you know that elephants are descended from mammoths? If yes, then you should know that mammoths had tusks. Elephants have also preserved them, although they have changed a little. They are also located in the upper jaw, like in mammoths.

Why does an elephant need tusks?

The tusks themselves are simply upper teeth, but grown to an incredible size. Although these are ordinary teeth, they have great value in the lives of all elephants. Female elephants do not have the massive tusks that elephants can display. In males, they are longer and thicker. During the mating season, elephants compete with each other for the ability to procreate with a certain female elephant. In these cases, the tusks act as dangerous weapon. Elephants also often use tusks to ensure the safety of their family and offspring from formidable predators, because not every tiger or lion will dare to fight an elephant or elephant, because there is a risk of being killed with one blow.

The elephant is the largest animal on Earth in terms of land. The African elephant has been known to mankind since ancient times. Despite its enormous size, this African giant easily tamed and has high intelligence. African elephants have been used since ancient times to carry heavy loads and even as fighting animals during wars. They easily remember commands and are very trainable. In the wild, they have practically no enemies, and even lions and large crocodiles do not dare to attack adults.

Description of the African Elephant

the largest land mammals on our planet. He is much more Asian elephant and in size can reach 4.5-5 meters in height, and its weight is approximately 7-7.5 tons. But there are also real giants: the largest African elephant that was discovered weighed 12 tons, and its body length was about 7 meters.

Range, habitats

Previously, African elephants were distributed throughout Africa. Now, with the advent of civilization and poaching, their habitat has been significantly reduced. Most of the elephants live in the territory national parks Kenya, Tanzania and Congo. During the dry season, they travel hundreds of kilometers in search of fresh water and nutrition. In addition to national parks, they are found in the wild in Namibia, Senegal, Zimbabwe and the Congo.

Currently inhabited area African elephants is rapidly decreasing due to the fact that more and more land is being given away for construction and agricultural needs. In some habitual habitats African elephant no longer meet. Because of the value of ivory, elephants have a hard time, they often become victims of poachers. The main and only enemy of elephants is man.

The most common myth about elephants is that they allegedly bury their dead relatives in certain places. Scientists have spent a lot of effort and time, but have not found any special places where the bodies or remains of animals would be concentrated. Such places don't really exist.

Nutrition. African elephant diet

African elephants are truly insatiable creatures, adult males can eat up to 150 kilograms of plant food per day, females about 100. It takes them 16-18 hours a day to absorb food, the rest of the time they spend looking for it, it takes 2-3 to sleep hours. This is one of the most sleepless animals in the world.

There is a prejudice that African elephants are very fond of peanuts and spend a lot of time looking for them, but this is not so. Of course, elephants have nothing against such a delicacy, and in captivity they willingly eat it. But still in nature it is not eaten.

Grass and shoots of young trees are their main food; fruits are eaten as a treat. With their gluttony, they damage agricultural land, farmers scare them away, since it is forbidden to kill elephants and they are protected by law. In search of food, these giants of Africa spend most day. Cubs completely switch to plant foods upon reaching three years before that, they feed on their mother's milk. After about 1.5-2 years, they gradually begin to receive adult food in addition to mother's milk. They drink a lot of water, about 180-230 liters per day.

Second myth says that old males who have left the herd become killers of people. Of course, there are cases of elephant attacks on humans, but this is not connected with a specific behavioral model of these animals.

The myth that elephants are afraid of rats and mice, as they gnaw their legs, also remains a myth. Of course, elephants are not afraid of such rodents, but they still do not have much love for them.

First, it is considered an organ of smell, like a person's nose. An elephant will be able to smell various smells from a great distance if he turns his trunk to the side.

From time to time, an elephant uses its trunk to fight enemies. His blow can be so powerful that it will cripple the offender or even cause his death. In ancient times, the colonialists from England used elephants as a labor force for a very long time. Thanks to the properties of the trunk, it can carry things with great weight, clear the way in sparsely populated areas and cut down trees. During the mating season, the elephant is obliged to use the trunk, because only in this way can the male elephants get the attention of the female. But more importantly, with the help of a roar emitted by the trunk, these animals can communicate with their relatives and send messages to them. From this list of trunk functions, you can already understand that this organ is indispensable for elephants.

Why does an elephant need tusks?

The tusks themselves are simply upper teeth, but grown to an incredible size. Although these are ordinary teeth, they are of great importance in the life of all elephants. Female elephants do not have the massive tusks that elephants can display. In males, they are longer and thicker. During the mating season, elephants compete with each other for the ability to procreate with a certain female elephant. In these cases, the tusks act as a dangerous weapon. Elephants also often use tusks to ensure the safety of their family and offspring from formidable predators, because not every tiger or lion will dare to fight an elephant or elephant, because there is a risk of being killed with one blow.

There are up to half a million African elephants in the world, Asian ones are about 10 times less. As you know, elephants are large and very intelligent animals that have served man for peaceful and military purposes since ancient times.

Giants

Elephants are the largest land animals on earth. Average weight they reach five tons, and the length of the body is 6-7 meters. In 1956, an elephant weighing 11 tons was killed in Angola.

The female elephant bears the cub for 22 months, the weight of the newborn is 120 kilograms.

The brain of an elephant weighs 5 kilograms, the heart - 20-30 kilograms. It beats at a frequency of 30 beats per minute.

To feed such a "colossus", the elephant has to look for food and eat most of the day, at least 20 hours. An elephant eats from 45 to 450 kilograms of plant food per day, drinks from 100 to 300 liters of water.

Elephants live 50-70 years. But there are speakers too. War elephant (served in the Chinese army) Lin Wang from Taiwan died in 2003 at the age of 86.

nerds

Aristotle wrote: "The elephant is an animal that excels all others in wit and intelligence." Elephants are really very good memory and developed intellect. Elephants were also capable of learning human language.

An elephant named Kaushik, who lives in Asia, learned to imitate human speech, or rather, five words: annyong (hello), anja (sit), aniya (no), nuo (lie down) and choah (good).

Kaushik does not just repeat them mindlessly, but, according to observers, understands their meaning, since these are either commands that he carries out, or words of encouragement and disapproval.

Communication

Elephants usually communicate using infrasound, so long time elephant language remained unsolved. Research by Christian Herbst of the University of Vienna on the larynx of a dead elephant showed that elephants use their vocal cords to communicate.

The "vocabulary" of the elephant language turned out to be quite rich - Herbst recorded about 470 different stable signals that elephants use.

They can use them to communicate with each other over long distances, warn of danger, report childbirth, use various appeals to members of the herd, depending on their position in the hierarchy.

Trunk

An elephant's trunk is actually an extension of its upper lip. With the help of the trunk, elephants make tactile contact, greet, take objects, draw, drink and wash. The trunk of the trunk can simultaneously fit up to eight liters of water. The trunk also has more than 40,000 receptors. Elephants have a very good sense of smell.

tusks

Elephants, like humans, can be left-handed or right-handed. Depending on which tusk the elephant works more with, one of them becomes smaller.

Over the last half century average length elephant tusks in both Africa and India has halved.

This is due to the fact that the most big representatives populations become victims of poachers, and the length of the tusks is a genetically inherited trait.

The tusks of dead elephants are extremely rare. Because of this, it has long been believed that elephants go to die in mysterious elephant cemeteries. Only in the last century it was found that porcupines eat tusks, thus compensating for mineral hunger.

Elephant Taming

Elephants are intelligent animals, but they can also be dangerous. Male elephants periodically go through a state of so-called "must". At this time, the level of testosterone in the blood of animals is 60 times higher than normal.

In order to achieve balance and obedience in elephants, they begin to train from early childhood.

One of the most effective methods like this: the foot of an elephant is tied to a tree trunk. Gradually, he gets used to the fact that it is impossible to free himself from this state. When the animal grows up, it is enough to tie it to a young tree, and the elephant will not try to free itself.

Funeral rite

Elephants not only high level intellect, but also sensitive hearts. When someone from an elephant family dies, his relatives lift him up with their trunks, turbulate loudly, and then roll them to a deepening and cover them with branches and throw them with earth. Then the elephants sit silently by the body for several more days.

There are also cases when elephants also try to bury people, sometimes taking sleeping people for the dead.

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Kingdom: Animals

Elephant

Elephants (lat. Elephantidae) - a family of mammals of the proboscis order. Of the surviving species, the family includes three species of elephants belonging to two genera.

African Elephants (Loxodonta)

Bush elephant (Loxodonta africana)

Forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis)

Indian Elephants (Elephas)

Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus)

Indian elephant.

Despite the seemingly almost 100% resemblance, African and Indian elephants there are a lot of differences. African (savannah) elephants are larger than Indian ones - in highest point bodies (in the shoulders) they can reach 3.7 meters, and their weight exceeds 6-7 tons. Indian elephants are smaller than savannas, but larger than forest ones - they weigh about 5 tons and grow up to 3.5 meters.

The ears of African elephants are very large, their shape resembles the outlines of the "black" continent, and the pattern of the veins is individual, like human fingerprints.

African elephant.

Long strong tusks adorn the heads of not only males (like Indian elephants), but also females. One third of an elephant's tusk is hidden in the body under the skull. An elephant's tusks grow throughout its life and are an indicator of its age.

Elephants are "right-" and "left-handed" because they adapt to work with the right or left tusk. Thus, they have one tusk shorter than the other, as it wears out faster. Elephant tusks can be not only of unequal size, but shape, and also grow sideways - scientists distinguish elephants by tusks and the shape of ears.

In addition to tusks, elephants have four more molars, each of which weighs about 2.3 kilograms and is as large as a brick. During their life, elephants completely renew the entire set of molars six times. As elephants age, their teeth become too sensitive, and they move to the swamps in search of softer vegetation. Here they remain until the end of their lives, becoming an unwitting source of many legends that elderly elephants go to die in some mysterious "valleys of death."

In the 20th century, the hunter John Hunter managed to establish where the tusks disappear - it turned out that they were eaten by African porcupines, thus trying to satisfy their mineral hunger.

The trunk is a long flexible process formed by the nose and upper lip fused together. The usual length of the trunk is about 1.5 m, weight - 135 kg. The elephant's trunk is controlled by more than 40 thousand muscles, so it is equally masterful in lifting both a heavy log and a straw. At the end of the African elephant's trunk are two finger-like outgrowths, adapted for easy grip, at Indian elephant there is only one such "finger".

In the center of an elephant's foot, there is a fat pad that "flattens out" every time the elephant lowers its foot, increasing its footprint. Elephants step on the toes with which they feel the road, after which they step on the soft part of the foot. The cushion on the foot absorbs sound - this helps the elephants to move silently.

On average, elephants live 70 years. Each female elephant is a mother four or five times in 50-70 years. Pregnancy in elephants lasts 21-23. and even 25 months. Elephants give birth and feed their calves while standing.

Both Indian and African elephants live in groups united by family kinship. The herd is led by the oldest and most experienced female, on whose decisions the entire life of the group depends - she determines when it is time for lunch, rest or a change of habitat.

The constant presence of adult males in the herd is completely excluded - they leave the family at the age of 12-13 years, leading a solitary lifestyle or uniting with the same loners, and visit the elephants only during the mating period, without taking any part in the further upbringing of the offspring. Groups living in the neighborhood are often also related and greet each other joyfully when they meet on the banks of water bodies.

Breeding can occur at any time of the year regardless of the season. Females are in oestrus for only 2-4 days; A full estrous cycle lasts about 4 months. Males join the herd after mating matches - as a result, only mature dominant males are allowed to breed. Fights sometimes lead to serious injuries of opponents and even death.

Usually elephants move at a speed of 2-6 km / h, but on a short time can reach speeds up to 35-40 km / h.

Elephants can swim very long distances. A case is known when 79 elephants crossed the multi-branched Ganges delta in India. At the same time, they sailed continuously for six hours and, after a brief respite on a sandbank, for another three hours, through the next arm.

Elephants sleep standing up, gathered together in a dense group; only the cubs lie on their side on the ground.

Elephants are thick-skinned animals, in the truest sense of the word - in some places, the thickness of their skin can reach 3.5-4 centimeters. However, this does not prevent her from remaining extremely sensitive, sensing the presence of even the smallest insects. To protect themselves from their stinging bites or to cool themselves, elephants douse themselves with water, roll in mud or dust.

It is believed that elephants are afraid of mice: the mouse can get into the trunk - and the elephant will suffocate. The slander of envious people! Elephants are absolutely not afraid of mice. In the zoo, gray animals run around in the elephant stall, and the giant does not lead with his ear, although he has a delicate sense of smell and excellent hearing. And if the mouse gathers courage and climbs into the trunk, the elephant can, having gained air, so "shoot" it out of the cage - it won't seem enough.

The most developed sense in elephants is the sense of smell, but sounds play the most important role in their communication. Flapping ears warn of danger, calling to stand in a circle and protect the smallest and weakest, the trampling of feet and many variations of sounds also carry certain information for those who are at a distance of up to 8 kilometers. And even such an unpleasant phenomenon for humans as rumbling in the stomach is very welcome in the elephant community - everyone who hears it knows that everything is calm around. Elephants have an ear for music and a musical memory, they are able to distinguish three-note melodies, music on the violin and low sounds of bass and horn prefer high flute melodies.

In one day, an elephant consumes about 300 kg of leaves and grass containing a high percentage of moisture. This applies to elephants living in the wild. In captivity, an adult elephant eats about 30 kg of hay, 10 kg of vegetables, 10 kg of bread. Depending on the air temperature, an elephant drinks from 100 to 300 liters of water in one day.

Elephant trainers tame their huge wards in a cunning way from a young age. When the baby elephant is still young and small enough, then one of his legs is tied to the trunk of a tree, unable to free himself from this captivity, over time, the elephant believes that this is generally impossible. And when it grows up and becomes many times stronger and larger, then it is enough to tie it to a young tree with even a not very strong rope and the elephant will not even try to free itself.

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To the question Do elephants have tusks? given by the author Boris the best answer is Indian elephants do not have tusks, and if they do, they are not visible from the outside. Males have tusks a meter and a half long.
One third of an elephant's tusk is hidden in the body under the skull. Now there are no elephants with huge tusks, since all individuals with such tusks were knocked out by hunters centuries ago, and the length of the tusks is a genetically inherited trait. Now you rarely see an elephant with tusks that would be even half as large as those of its predecessors. An elephant's tusks grow throughout its life and are an indicator of its age. Elephants are "right-" and "left-handed", because they adapt to work with the right or left tusk. Thus, they have one tusk shorter than the other, as it wears out faster. Elephant tusks can be not only of unequal size, but shape, and also grow sideways - scientists distinguish elephants by tusks and the shape of ears.
African elephants have tusks, though smaller than those of males. The tusks of males are huge - the record was 4.1 m (they weighed 148 kg.). The length and weight of the tusks do not always correspond to each other: the heaviest tusks of an elephant killed in 1898 near Kilimanjaro are 225 kg. in both fangs.
Asian elephant (Elephas maximus).
The mass of males is 5-6 tons, females up to 4 tons, height at the shoulders is 2.5-3 meters. Tusks, modified upper incisors, of large sizes are only in males. Among males Asian elephants quite often there are individuals without tusks.

The elephant is one of the most large mammals animals that live on land. Its weight can reach up to 5 tons, so it has short legs that serve as a powerful support. Elephant tusks are actually just the upper teeth that have grown to enormous sizes, which play an important role in the life of the animal. But the most important organ of an elephant is the trunk. Some people think that the trunk serves only as a respiratory organ, but this is only one of its many functions.

What is a trunk?

The first thing a person notices when he sees, in addition to his size, is his trunk, which is an upper lip fused with a nose as a result of evolution. Thus, the elephants turned out to be quite flexible and long nose, consisting of 500 different muscles, and at the same time not having a single bone (except for the cartilage on the bridge of the nose).

The nostrils, like in humans, are divided into two channels along the entire length. And at the tip of the trunk are small, but very strong muscles that serve the elephant like fingers. With their help, the elephant will be able to feel and pick up a small button or other small object.

First of all, the trunk performs the function of the nose, but with its help, elephants breathe, smell, and can also:

drink;
get your own food;
communicate with relatives;
lift small objects;
bathe;
to defend;
express emotions.

From all this it follows that the trunk is a useful and unique tool. AT Everyday life an adult elephant cannot do without a trunk, just as a person cannot do without hands. Reference. The baby elephant is not trained to properly use the trunk and constantly steps on it when walking. Therefore, before fully learning to control the trunk, the baby elephant simply uses it to hold on to the parent's tail while moving.

Food and drink

One of the most important functions of the trunk is the extraction of food and water. With the help of this organ, the animal searches for and extracts these vital products.

Food

The elephant differs from other mammals in that it consumes food mainly with its nose, with which it gets it. The diet of this animal depends on the type of elephant. Since the elephant is a mammal, it feeds mainly on plants, vegetables and fruits.

Protection from enemies

In conditions wildlife, in addition to tusks, the elephant also uses its trunk for protection. Due to the flexibility of the organ, the animal can repel blows from any direction, and the number of muscles in the trunk give it tremendous strength. The weight of the organ makes it an excellent weapon: adult it reaches 140 kg, and a blow of such force is able to repel the attack of a dangerous predator.

Communication

Despite the fact that scientists have proven the ability of elephants to communicate using infrasound, the trunk plays an important role in the communication of these animals. Most often, this communication is as follows:

greeting - elephants greet each other with the help of a trunk;
helping offspring.

Elephants also use their trunks to communicate with their babies. Despite the fact that the little elephant still walks rather poorly, he needs to move around, and his mother helps him in this. Holding on with their trunks, mother and cub move little by little, as a result of which the latter gradually learns to walk.

Also, adults can use the trunk to punish the offending offspring. At the same time, of course, the elephants do not put all their strength into the blow, but lightly spank the children. As for communication between elephants, these animals are very fond of touching each other with their trunks, stroking their “interlocutors” on the backs and showing their attention in every possible way.