The Official Save-The-Planet-Book

The Asian Elephant

The Asian Elephant is the largest mammal in Asia. They normally live in the forest and grassland areas and generally like to forage plants to eat. They are normally quite sociable creatures, forming groups of 6-7 females, with the oldest leading the group.

But perhaps the most important fact about these amazing creatures is that they are endangered. It's estimated that there are only 40,000-30,000 left in the wild, a decline of around 50% in the last three generations. There's a number of reasons for this decrease, all of which are because of humans.

Sometimes it's because of human and elephant conflict. Poaching of Asian elephants is much lower than that of African elephants because their tusks are much smaller, and females don't have any at all, so there's not much point in poaching for ivory. So, human-elephant conflict is normally caused because of farmers developing land where elephants might live into farmland for crops. This leads to elephants being considered a pest because they eat the crops and the farmers sometimes take drastic measures such as killing them to solve the problem.

But this isn't the main reason their population is declining so rapidly. There are several others.

Habitat loss is a big problem for elephants. Firstly, with the human population growing so rapidly, towns, cities and farms are expanding and converting important habitats, such as the Asian elephant's habitat, into areas for human use and making those areas unsuitable for elephants to live in. This has led to the cutting up of elephant habitats, and them being more spread out across bigger groups, making it harder for them to reproduce, with a fragmented habitat.

And with the climate warming up, Asian elephants are facing many other threats. New and invasive plant species are now able to grow where they couldn't before and are outcompeting the elephant's normal food source. Elephants also need to drink at least once a day, but with drought becoming more common, securing a sustainable water source is becoming increasingly difficult.

All animals are going to need to adapt to warmer climates, but the Asian elephant finds adapting quite difficult due to their long generation time, slow reproductive rates, and little genetic variation so climate change is going to have a big and very negative impact on them.

Instead of expecting elephants to adapt, humans need to help save these wonderful animals before it gets too late. This means we need to focus on making sure that they get fresh water, and maintain and increase a connected habitat, control invasive plant species, and so on. The best thing you can do however, is simply try to limit your carbon footprint and minimise your impact on global warming.

It's critical that we save this species, with elephants having a vital role in maintaining ecosystems while also contributing to tourism and income in many areas.

Frankly, if we don't do anything, all elephants will become extinct, not just Asian ones, since elephants in general are considered endangered. Do you really want children to grow up without knowing what an elephant is?

Written by DazzieSh