History of World Elephant Day | Characteristics of Elephant | Elephant Habitat | Elephant Conservation

A filmmaker, Patricia Sims, launched World Elephant Day in 2012. According to the history of world elephant day,  this day is on August 12. This day is dedicated to Elephant Conservation and protection. World Elephant Day aims to raise awareness about the urgent plight of both Asian and African Elephants. This day also highlights the threats they face such as Elephant Habitat loss, poaching for Ivory, and Human-Elephant conflict. In addition, this day shares knowledge about better care and management of captive and wild elephants. Characteristics of Elephant are interesting including the elephant trunk.

They have cultural and historical importance. Besides this, Elephants have ecological importance. They are considered as “keystone species” as they play an important role in uprooting trees, digging for water, and spreading seeds. There are three Elephant Species. Elephant Species include the Asian Elephant, African Forest Elephant, and African Savannah elephant.

معدومیت کے خطرے سے دوچار سماٹرن نسل کے ہاتھی کی پیدائش

History of World Elephant Day

This day was first conceived by Canadian filmmaker Patricia Sims and the Elephant Reintroduction Foundation in Thailand in 2011. However, Thailand officially launched it on August 12, 2012. This was an initiative of HM Queen Sirikit of Thailand. Since 2012, Patricia Sims continued to lead and support World Elephant Day. The Elephant Reintroduction Foundation is a charitable organization in Thailand. This organization was founded in 2002 as a Royal initiative of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit of Thailand. However, the mission of this foundation is to reintroduce captive elephants into the wild and restore their habitat. Moreover, It has three forest sanctuaries in Thailand.

Characteristics of Elephant

Elephants are the largest living land animals on the earth. Distinctive characteristics of elephants include a long proboscis called a trunk, large ear flaps, and tusks. They belong to the family Elephantidae. Their body color varies from grayish to brown. They have heavy-weight body. Moreover, male elephants have an average weight of  3600 kg to 6000 kg. While female elephants have 2700 kg to 4200 kg. Furthermore, they have thick and wrinkled skin. Wrinkled skin helps elephants to dissipate heat.

Elephant Trunk is an interesting part of these animals. Elephants have elongated and prehensile trunks. Elephant Trunk consists of the upper lip and nose. Moreover, an elephant has around 150,000 muscles in their trunk. These muscles give the trunk an extreme flexibility and strength. The elephant trunk is capable of lifting a load of about 250 kg. However, it is also extremely dexterous. Elephant uses it for grasping, breathing, feeding, dusting, smelling, drinking, lifting, sound production/communication, defense/protection, etc. Due to, the trunk they have a keen sense of smell. They raised and waived the trunk in the air to gather scent particles.

Elephants have enlarged incisor teeth known as tusks. Tusks are made of Ivory. Furthermore, Ivory mainly consists of dentine which protrude well beyond the mouths of elephants. It has deep roots. They use their tusks for digging, lifting objects, gathering food, and stripping bark. Furthermore, they have large angular ears. They flap their ears to cool themselves because ears contain extensive networks of tiny blood vessels.

Moreover, they have pillar-like legs with broad padded feet to support their massive weight. They can stand for long period of time without tiring. Their feet have shock absorbers of fatty and fibrous tissue. So, they can move through the bushes.

Elephant Habitat and Distribution

They have a wide range of habitats including savannas, swamps, grasslands, forests, and woodlands. They are distributed among throughout sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.

چمپینزی کا عالمی دن اور ہسٹری، بن مانس کی خصوصیات اور دیگر معلومات

Elephant Conservation and World Elephant Day

Elephants play an important role in ecosystems. Besides this, they are facing many threats, especially from humans. Humans illegally killed them for tusks. More than 100 organizations are working on Elephant Conservation or elephant habitat. World Elephant Day celebration is also part of this. IUCN has listed African bush elephants as endangered species in 2021. While African forest elephants were listed as Critically Endangered.

جگنو روشنی کیسے پیدا کرتا ہے؟ جگنو کے حوالے سے دلچسپ حقائق پر مشتمل ڈاکٹر مجاہد حسین کی تحریر

Editor In Chief

Dr. Jassar Aftab is a qualified Veterinarian having expertise in veterinary communication. He is a renowned veterinary Journalist of Pakistan. He is veterinary columnist, veterinary writer and veterinary analyst. He is the author of three books. He has written a number of articles and columns on different topics related to livestock, dairy, poultry, wildlife, fisheries, food security and different aspects of animal sciences and veterinary education.

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