Country: Republic of Gabon
Continent: West Central Africa
Capital: Libreville
Wednesday 19 December 2007
Elephant facts
Elephants stomp when they walk.Elephants sleep standing up.
Sometimes baby elephants lie down to sleep.
Elephants bathe. Sometimes the spray dirt on themselves to get the parasites off. Sometimes they bathe in mud
Elephants live in herds.
Elephants cool off by fanning their ears. This cools the blood in their ears. That blood goes to the rest of their body and cools off the elephant.
Elephants poop 80 pounds in one day.
Elephants weigh 10,000 pounds. It would take 250 students to add up to 10,000 pounds.
Elephants collect food with their trunks.
Only grown up ladies and their babies live in the herds.
The daddy elephants leave the herd when they are 12 years old.
They fight with their tusks.
They eat grass and bark.
During the wet season they eat things low to the ground.
During the dry season they use their trunk to gather food from trees and bushes.
They suck up water into their trunks and shoot it into their mouths.
Elephants need lots of room to roam and eat. (Some of us think that this must mean they are not happy in the zoo or in the circus.)
They can run 24mph for short distances.
Tuesday 18 December 2007
Wednesday 12 December 2007
Elephant dies at Irish Circus
August 2007Kenya, a 19-year-old African elephant has died at Circus Sydney while on tour in Northern Ireland.
She was one of two elephants filmed chained and showing disturbed behaviours in 2006 when the circus was inspected by a CAPS investigator with a vet. Her companion, Max, was sent to a zoo in Germany to avoid an inspection by the Dublin SPCA in August 2006 and Kenya was alone since then.
Following a tip-off that Kenya had died, CAPS contacted the Ulster SPCA who sent an inspector to the circus along with a government vet. They discovered that Kenya had died sometime over the previous couple of weeks. The circus claimed she died of a heart attack after being scared by dogs, but has not provided any proof.
CAPS’ concerns about Kenya’s death were reported in the media across the whole of Ireland, along with our calls for an end to the use of all animals in circuses. A large story in the Irish Sunday Mirror quoted CAPS:
“The death of this young female elephant is shocking. We demand that all veterinary reports and post-mortem details of the elephant be made public so her death can be fully assessed. Kenya’s body was sent to a rendering plant – a sad end to a sad life. Kenya was born in the wild in Zimbabwe but she lived alone, chained and transported from town to town. She should never have been subjected to the life of a travelling circus.”
For more information on CAPS’ campaigns in Ireland see www.irishcircuses.org
The Captive Animals Protection society
Elephant puzzle
Note: cut only to the center of the hexagon, not all the way through.The problem is to fold the above triangles into a tetrahedron so that the head, body, and tail of the elephant match up, and so that the remaining face is blank. The blank face can either be the actual blank triangle, or it can be the opposite face of one of the elephant-part triangles.
Solution: CLICK HERE
Elephant Foetus
From one-centimetre foetus to birth as a calf weighing 118 kilograms.Its astonishing !22-month gestation - the longest of any mammal.At 16 weeks, the foetus begins to look like an elephant as it develops a trunk. Two weeks later it is seen exercising its trunk and legs, and ears that already detect sound start to grow.By 12 months, the foetus is a replica of what will emerge 10 months later £ except it is just 45 centimetres long.
More Trivia
Elephants are the largest land-dwelling mammals on earth. They are brown to dark gray in color and have long, coarse hairs sparsely covering their bodies. They have very thick skin that keeps them cool. Elephant trunks serve as another limb. A fusion of the nose and upper lip, the trunk may contain more than 40,000 muscles that help the elephant use it to gather food and water. They also sport large ears and thick tree-trunk-like legs to support their great weight.
There are a number of differences between the two species – overall size, ear size, tusks and shape of the back and forehead among others. Of these two species, African elephants are divided into two subspecies (savannah and forest), while the Asian elephant is divided into four subspecies (Sri Lankan, Indian, Sumatran and Borneo). Asian elephants have been very important to Asian culture for thousands of years – they have been domesticated and are used for religious festivals, transportation and to move heavy objects.
There are two distinct species of elephants: the Asian elephants (Elephas maximus). 
and the African elephant (genus: Loxodonta)
and the African elephant (genus: Loxodonta) There are a number of differences between the two species – overall size, ear size, tusks and shape of the back and forehead among others. Of these two species, African elephants are divided into two subspecies (savannah and forest), while the Asian elephant is divided into four subspecies (Sri Lankan, Indian, Sumatran and Borneo). Asian elephants have been very important to Asian culture for thousands of years – they have been domesticated and are used for religious festivals, transportation and to move heavy objects. Height: 5-14 ft at shoulders (males); females of all subspecies are smaller than males
Length: Up to 30 ft trunk to tail Weight 6,000-15,000 lbs (males)
Lifespan: Up to 70 years
Lifespan: Up to 70 years
Diet:Staples Grasses, leaves, bamboo, bark, rootsAlso known to eat crops like banana and sugarcane which are grown by farmers. Adult elephants eat 300-400 lbs of food per day.
Behavior:Elephants form deep family bonds and live in tight matriarchal family groups of related females called a herd. The herd is led by the oldest and often largest female in the herd, called a matriarch. Herds consist of 8-100 individuals depending on terrain and family size. When a calf is born, it is raised and protected by the whole matriarchal herd. Males leave the family unit between the ages of 12-15 and may lead solitary lives or live temporarily with other males.
Elephants are extremely intelligent animals and have memories that span many years. It is this memory that serves matriarchs well during dry seasons when they need to guide their herds, sometimes for tens of miles, to watering holes that they remember from the past. They also display signs of grief, joy, anger and play.
Recent discoveries have shown that elephants can communicate over long distances by producing a sub-sonic rumble that can travel over the ground faster than sound through air. Other elephants receive the messages through the sensitive skin on their feet and trunks. It is believed that this is how potential mates and social groups communicate.
Elephants are extremely intelligent animals and have memories that span many years. It is this memory that serves matriarchs well during dry seasons when they need to guide their herds, sometimes for tens of miles, to watering holes that they remember from the past. They also display signs of grief, joy, anger and play.
Recent discoveries have shown that elephants can communicate over long distances by producing a sub-sonic rumble that can travel over the ground faster than sound through air. Other elephants receive the messages through the sensitive skin on their feet and trunks. It is believed that this is how potential mates and social groups communicate.
Mating Season: Mostly during the rainy season
Gestation: 22 monthsLitter size 1 calf (twins rare) Calves weigh between 200-250 lbs at birth. At birth, a calf’s trunk has no muscle tone, therefore it will suckle through its mouth. It takes several months for a calf to gain full control of its trunk.
Baby Elephant !!
Eight-day-old elephant in Chiang Mai, ThailandPhoto Courtesy: Jason Butler@elephant-photos.com
More elephant photos by Jason Butler CLICK HERE
Picnickers to finish their party before nightfall !
DHENKANAL: Elephants are found everywhere, along the road, in rural and urban habitations and even in places of tourist interest.
Fearing that presence of elephants in large numbers would lead to decline in tourism, the forest officials here launched an awareness campaign,'Be aware of elephants' to educate tourists about the alarming situation.
As thousands of tourists throng places like Kapilas, Saptasajya, Deer Park, Science Centre, Ganesh Khola and many other areas of importance the forest division alerted its officials to take care of the visitors.
Picnickers too have been warned to finish their party before nightfall.
To read more CLICK HERE
Fearing that presence of elephants in large numbers would lead to decline in tourism, the forest officials here launched an awareness campaign,'Be aware of elephants' to educate tourists about the alarming situation.
As thousands of tourists throng places like Kapilas, Saptasajya, Deer Park, Science Centre, Ganesh Khola and many other areas of importance the forest division alerted its officials to take care of the visitors.
Picnickers too have been warned to finish their party before nightfall.
To read more CLICK HERE
Mechanical Elephant !!
High quality close-up video of the elephant and its crew - Street performance by Royal de Luxe in London 6 May 2006
July 7th 2006 - French theatregroup Royal de Luxe brought their latest spectacle to Antwerpen in Belgium. This is an overview of the opening of the 4 day event.
July 7th 2006 - French theatregroup Royal de Luxe brought their latest spectacle to Antwerpen in Belgium. This is an overview of the opening of the 4 day event.
Elephant crazy South Indian Film Actor
Actor Jayaram in one of his film
Actor Jayaram and family with his own elephant "Kannan"Quoted from a website about him.....
Everyone knows Jayaram’s craze for elephants from childhood. He grew up in Perumbavoor and Malayatoor, the beginning of forest area in Idukki district of Kerala. The Forest range office in Malayatoor was next to his family house and that’s how our hero got the chance to see wild elephants being tamed by domestic elephants!
Later Jayaram used to go for all temple festivals just to watch elephants. Finally after he became a star, he fulfilled his ambition to buy an elephant and named it Kannan. Jayaram has also done a few films which had elephants in them. And now his next film Aanachantham for director Jayaraj is being shot in Ottapalam.
In Aanachantham Jayaram plays the role of Krishna Prasad a crazy elephant lover who goes for all temple festivals with his elephant Mambally Arjunan. He literally lives and works for the elephant which creates problems in the joint family that he is living.
Name: Bastian Vinaya sankar
This elephant has the 4th rank in all the elephants in Kerala. It has a long tail whose hairs touch the ground. Elephant lovers in Kerala like it because of its wide ears.
Tuesday 4 December 2007
AFRICAN ELEPHANT
Phylum: CHORDATA
Class: MAMMALIA
Order: PROBOSCIDEA
Family: ELEPHANTIDAE
They were not domesticated and trained and worshipped as in Asia. So, they used the elephant even for meat. The African Elephants are more difficult to train than the Asian Elephant. They are trainable, however, and have been used in zoos .
The Land of the White Elephant:
The myth and legend of the white elephant began in Southeast Asia - The Land of the White Elephant..In the story of the Buddha, the white elephant is connected to fetility and toknowledge. On the eve of giving birth to the Lord Buddha, his mother dreams that a white elephant comes to present her with a lotus, symbol of purity and knowledge.
At the heart of the first great Southeast Asian Empire, at the Angkor Wat in Cambodia, the might of the war elephants is depicted on murals of the region's armies.
Over the next few hundred years, two states dominated the region - theforerunners of modern Burma and Thailand (Siam). In both, the elephant was a very important animal. It was key to military success - both in mass battles, and in the elephant duels.
It was also key to royal pageantry - kings chose the biggest, most magnificentelephants for royal ceremonies and processions. Kings and courtiers spent a lot of time and energy hunting elephants from the forests. And the most powerful kings kept thousands in their stables.
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