Elephants Skin

 

 

 

 

"Bullhooks." Web log post. Www.PETA.org. PETA, n.d. Web.

http://www.peta.org/issues/animals-in-entertainment/bullhooks.aspx

 

           An elephant’s skin may look tough, but in reality it’s actually very sensitive. In some areas of their body the skin is as thin as a piece of paper; inside their ears and around the mouth, eyes, and the anus. They can actually feel the pain of an insect bite! When Humane Inspectors from San Jose, California went into The Ringling Bros. to inspect the animals, it’s reported that the elephants had injuries behind or on the back of the ears, on the under belly and also, some injuries looked fresh, with bright red blood showing. And according to the USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) they stated that, “An ankus may not be used in an abusive manner that causes wounds or other injuries.” (U.S.D.A., 1.) When circuses first break baby elephants in, they tie their hind legs back and legs together tightly so that they aren’t able to lie down, also giving them restricted movement. If the elephant moves the mahouts (elephant handler) hits the baby with either a rubber whip or a bull hook. What they want the elephant to do in the end result is submission; torturing the animal into one option, obedience. The abuse that goes on is obvious but there is not enough done about it.

Elephant Abuse

"How Circus Elephants Are Sometimes Abused by Their Trainers." About.com Animal Rights. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Apr. 2013.

http://animalrights.about.com/od/animalsinentertainment/a/JaynesElephant2.htm

 

 

Elephants are highly endangered species; with African elephants having around 300,000 as their population and Asian elephants only 30,000. There used to be millions of elephants roaming around. This is affected by poachers for ivory and meat, as well as zoos and circuses that take these elephants from their natural environments for human entertainment. Training an elephant that weighs up to 8,000 pounds and has so much strength takes negative reinforcement. With the beating of bull hooks if they don’t “behave” or listen to commands, and confining the elephants into small spaces making them very depressed, also giving them psychological problems. You can tell an elephant has been in confinement if they continuously sway back and forth or bob their head up and down repeatedly.  A report from Circuses.com says that during the off season (winter) of circuses; the elephants are kept in railroad cars, trucks, or small barn stalls. That is not acceptable for any kind of animal. For example, can you imagine putting your pet (dog or cat) in a carrying crate you bring them to the veterinaries office in for up to 70-80 percent of the day, every day? If an elephant refuses to perform they are beaten with bull hooks (shown on the right), they look like they aren’t harmed at the circus because they put something called “wonder dust” to cover it up.  Eventually these elephants get so beaten up and psychologically imbalanced from years of abuse that they go nuts and end up raging at a circus show, killing or injuring people. There are many reports where an elephant has stomped off the stage of a circus performance hurting people. But is the animal itself the one that’s in the wrong or is it what we humans put them through? I think an elephant raging and killing people at a circus show is a sign that they don’t belong there. They need to be in their natural habitats. I’m not saying that EVERY circus abuses their animals like this, but it definitely happens more often than it should.

Communication

PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2013.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/unforgettable/communication.html

            A lot of people think that Elephants have a brain the size of a peanut but that is not true. They are actually very complex animals. Not only are they capable of deep thoughts; they have a very interesting way of communicating. A recent discovery shows that some elephant communication can’t be heard by humans, where the low frequency is of 1 to 20 Hz. And 20 Hz is the absolute low that the human ear can perceive. They also make high pitched noises, use touch, smell and vision as a way of communication. But the unheard communicating comes into effect when, for example; a male is looking for a mate, to warn of a predator, or if an elephant is lost from its herd, because low frequencies travel a longer distance.  In the article linked above, Poole (an elephant researcher) says, “…elephants use more than 70 kinds of vocal sounds and 160 different visual and tactile signals, expressions, and gestures in their day-to-day interactions.” (Poole, 1) Elephants can squeal, cry, scream, roar, snort, rumble, and groan to get their point across. It’s hard to perceive that these creatures are so intelligent, and to think there are a lot stuck in zoos and circuses, being told what to do makes me cringe.

Elephants aggressive?

Schowalter-Hay, Ethan. "What Are the Causes of Aggression in Elephants?" EHow. Demand Media, 20 June 2011. Web. 18 Apr. 2013.

http://www.ehow.com/info_8619521_causes-aggression-elephants.html

        Elephants aren’t aggressive creatures unless they have a reason to be. Unless they’re a male going through Musth and have high doses of testosterone going through their body making them aggressive. Otherwise the only times an elephant will be aggressive is if they feel threatened by a person or something, or if there’s some sort of social tension in their herd. Elephants are naturally very defensive because they are always on the lookout for lions, hyenas, or tigers trying to take their young as a meal. Some examples of social strife might be if a male is going through Musth and gets aggressive with a bull (elder male) to earn some kind of dominance role in the herd. It’s said that male elephants fight for dominance from a young age. You can tell an elephant is upset by its ears, they will stiffen them right up and cocks there head up then shake their head back and forth. Also, an elephant might charge a predator or person to scare them, or swing its trunk in the person or predators direction. Moral of the story, don’t mess with an elephant because their size and weight is also a con for any person or predator that upsets them.

"Elephants Never Forget"

       "Fact or Fiction?: Elephants Never Forget: Scientific American." Fact or Fiction?: Elephants Never Forget: Scientific American. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2013.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=elephants-never-forget

        Elephants never forget. Research has been done to prove that elephants remember acquaintances in life even if it’s been years. They might have poor eye sight but they have a very prodigious memory. Their memory might have been adapted from having to keep track of other elephants in herds, also to tell whether an elephant is a part of their herd or a stranger. They can also tell whether an elephant is a part of the herd or not by the smell of another elephant’s urine. At the elephant sanctuary in Tennessee, two elephants were put together in a sanctuary and without the keeper knowing the two elephants had already known each other from past acquaintance while in the zoo life. They actually figured out that it was 23 years later. It’s very interesting to me that an elephant can remember for that long.

Longest Lived Elephant

"Grand Paws: 10 Of The World’s Longest Lived Animals | WebEcoist." Grand Paws: 10 Of The World’s Longest Lived Animals | WebEcoist. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2013.

http://webecoist.momtastic.com/2010/07/13/grand-paws-10-of-the-worlds-longest-lived-animals/

 

        According to this website, the longest lived elephant is 86 years old; her name is Lin Wang, who lived from 1917 to 2003. It’s said that there would probably be a longer living elephant right now if it wasn’t for all the poachers out there, because older elephants with bigger tusks are targeted and killed. There just might be an elephant that beats Lin’s 86 years though; Vatsala, an Indian elephant is estimated to be in her early 90’s! They don’t know her exact age because she was brought to the sanctuary when she was about 50. All of her teeth are missing, but she’s still kicking it. Picture of Vatsala is above.

Developmental Stages

"Elephant Life Cycle." Elephant Life Cycle. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2013.

http://www.andrews-elephants.com/life-cycle.html


       Elephants go through very similar developmental stages as humans do. There’s are broke into three stages; Baby Stage lasting from birth to 5-10 years, Adolescent Stage which lasts from the end of baby stage (determined by the elephant weaning off mother’s breast milk) to about age 17 when the elephant starts to mate or meets complete sexual maturity, lastly the Adult Stage is from age 17 through the entirety of their life. Elephants have the life expectancy of about 70 years. An elephant stays in its mother’s womb for around two years before they give birth! I can’t even imagine carrying a child for that long. They stop having calves at about 50 years old. During their adult stage an elephant would usually leave their matriarchal herd but it’s usually just the males, who then form their own herd (usually small) called a ‘bachelor pod’. A funny fact about elephants is that they also go through a similar menopause that humans go through during Adulthood. They also get some of the same health issues as humans; for example, arthritis and cardiovascular disease. Elephants are definitely a lot like humans and it’s very rare to find an animal that goes through developmental stages as slow as a human.

Bella&Tara

 

"Ohmidog!" Tara and Bella: A Beautiful Friendship Ends. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2013.

 

http://www.ohmidog.com/2011/10/29/tarra-and-bella-a-beautiful-friendship-ends/

 

 

 

I found an article of an incredible story from Nashville, Tennessee of a dog and an elephant becoming friends. A stray dog wandered onto The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee where the 8,700 pound elephant named Tara and small dog named Bella became the best of friends. They were inseparable according to the article. But one morning, a devastating thing happened; Bella had died from an attack, veterinarians suspecting it to be from a coyote. Now they hope that Tara won’t become too depressed because of the loss of her best friend. This story is touching because it proves that animals have feelings and elephants can in fact mourn the death of something or someone. In the picture above, it shows Tara and Bella on a walk one day. That is one of many photos that were taken of the inseparable friends.   

 

11 Elephants. 1 Plane.

In the book ZOO STORY, By Thomas French; he writes all about a six year research project that was done by him and his team in early 2000. It’s interesting because right in the first chapter he explains the steps of an elephant or other wild animal being taken from their home environment to captivity. That’s another thing I hadn’t thought about before researching; how the animals got to the zoos or circuses and if they were born in captivity or are missing their home, freedom of space, or family. Right on page one, French writes, “Nothing could have prepared them for what they were experiencing. These were not circus animals, accustomed to captivity. All of these elephants were wild, extracted at great expense and through staggering logistics from their herds inside game reserves in Swaziland. All headed for zoos in San Diego and Tampa…The elephants were confined in eleven metal crates inside the semidarkness of the freighter jet’s cavernous hold. Before they were loaded into the plane, they had been sedated.” (French, 1) I’ll be in San Diego in two days and am going to the zoo; these elephants in this book, which were taken from their natural habitat in 2003, are still there; it’s a small world.

French, Thomas, Mr. "Zoo Story: Life in the Garden of Captives [Bargain Price] [Paperback]." Zoo Story: Life in the Garden of Captives: Thomas French: Amazon.com: Books. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Apr. 2013.