Elephants are an endangered species. The majestic animal population has shrunk over the past few decades.
World elephant day is observed on August 12 every year, to create awareness about elephants. The inaugural world elephant day was launched on August 12, 2012 to bring attention to the dire plight of Asian and African elephants. Elephants are listed as endangered species and their population has shrunk over the past few decades.
The goal of this day is to raise public awareness about the conservation of elephants. African elephants are listed as ‘vulnerable’ and Asian elephants as ‘endangered’ on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list of threatened species. On world elephant day 2020, let's pledge to protect them.
1. 1. Population of Asian elephants
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As the WWF points out, "Around 90% of African elephants have been wiped out in the past century - largely due to the ivory trade - leaving an estimated 415,000 wild elephants alive today. Asian elephants are also under threat, having declined by at least 50% in the last three generations. There are only around 45,000 left in the wild."
2. 2. Elephants 'never forget'
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2. 'Elephants Can Remember' is not just an Agatha Christie novel. Elephants 'never forget' because the temporal lobe - the brain's area associated with memory - is larger and denser than humans.
3. 3. Elephants are intelligent creatures
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Elephants are very intelligent creatures, just like dolphins and apes. They are capable of showing emotions like grief, empathy and compassion. Elephants are also capable of understanding human body language.
4. 4. Elephant mourn their dead
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Elephants have demonstrated fascinating reactions to the deaths of their kind, often displaying what appears to humans as symptoms of grief and mourning. They caress the bones of the dead with their trunks and will stand near the body of the deceased for hours. Sometimes they even try to bury the remains.
5. 5. Elephants show empathy
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A recent study [PDF] observed Asian elephants comforting one another when distressed. The elephants in the study used both physical contact and vocal sounds as forms of comfort, stroking one another with their trunks and emitting small chirps. The study concluded this behaviour is "best classified with similar consolation responses by apes, possibly based on convergent evolution of empathic capacities."
6. Elephants eat alot
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Elephants need to eat up to 150kg of food per day, although half of this may leave the body undigested. Elephants eat so much that they can spend up to three-quarters of their day just eating.
