Elegant Elephant

Welcome to the blog post, let me tell you that today is Worlds elephant day and hence to salute and give much-deserved respect I decided to write a blog on this highly useful animal.

Do you know that Elephant plays an important role in maintaining the biodiversity of the ecosystems in which they live? During the dry season, elephants use their tusks to dig for water. I am sure not many people are aware of such facts so let me update all of you on stories and unknown details of this energetic mammal.

The Great Gajraj

We all like Gajraj as it has important in Indian mythology, it is believed that Lord Ganesha bears an elephant head hence elephant is highly respected and worshiped by Indians but at the same time, it always remains on the top list of poachers. The animal is so cute that we all love it from childhood when I started forest visits the first thing I wanted is to see an elephant in its natural habitat where you can see tuskers in a big group. The best place to see a family together in India is Jim Corbett; it is huge open grassland suitable for an elephant to roam around in huge terrain with its family doing all such behavioral activities which you can enjoy and frame it as well.

One of the behavioral activity is a mud bath it is a treat to watch. Elephant utilizes mud to beat the heat, romping around in mud not only cools them down but provides a protective layer to shield their body from the sun’s rays and it is also relief them from insect bites. It is one of the best sightings to enjoy that is too in the wild, we were lucky to see the elephant family enjoying a mud bath, they were using their trunk to spray mud all over the body usually covering the back of the ears first as this is where the heat loss is most efficient.

Another behavior is extra protective towards young ones, Elephants are known for protective behavior especially when they are with calves, even they may attack if they feel danger from another side. It is always advisable to keep a distance from elephants when you are in a wild. The elephant is such an important animal and is full of qualities that it is actually difficult to describe it in limited words, still, let me bring out interesting details which are not known by many, let’s move to next section to read fantastic details of the elegant animal.

The Smartest and the Strongest

Elephants are exceptionally smart creatures. They have the largest brain of any land animal and three times as many neurons as humans. Symbolic elephant meaning deals primarily with strength, honor, stability, and tenacity among other attributes. Elephants are exceptionally smart creatures. They have the largest brain of any land animal, and three times as many neurons as humans, while many of these neurons exist to control the elephant's large and dexterous body.

A group of elephants is called a herd, the herd is led by a matriarch, which is the oldest female. Females, as well as young and old elephants, stick together in a herd. Adult males tend to wander on their own. Elephants also have certain rules. For example, when they are meeting each other, they expect the other elephant to extend its trunk in greeting. The matriarch will often teach young elephants in her herd how to act properly.

Something different – Do you know about Musth?

Males ("bulls") leave their family groups when they reach puberty and may live alone or with other males. Adult bulls mostly interact with family groups when looking for a mate and enter a state of increased testosterone and aggression known as musth, which helps them gain dominance and reproductive success. Musth is a periodic condition in bull (male) elephants, characterized by highly aggressive behavior and accompanied by a large rise in reproductive hormones. Testosterone levels in an elephant in musth can be as much as 6 times greater than in the same elephant at other times. Bulls in musth have often been known to attack female elephants, regardless of whether or not the females are in heat. There has been speculation that musth is connected to the natural periodic reorganization of dominance among males in elephant herds.

The elephant's aggression may be partially caused by a reaction to the temporin, which naturally trickles down into the elephant's mouth. Another contributing factor may be the accompanying swelling of the temporal glands; this presses on the elephant's eyes and causes acute pain comparable to severe root abscess toothache. Elephants sometimes try to counteract this pain by digging their tusks into the ground.

Multitasker

The African elephant's other role is to pull down trees and break up thorny bushes. As a result, they create grasslands and salt licks in order to make other animals' lives easier to survive in their environment. Their final role is that they create water holes by digging in dry river beds

The elephant head symbolizes great intellect and wisdom

During the dry season, elephants use their tusks to dig for water, wherever they live, elephants leave dung that is full of seeds from the many plants they eat.

Tusks are used for defense, offense, digging, lifting objects, gathering food, and stripping bark to eat from trees. They also protect the sensitive trunk, which is tucked between them when the elephant charges

Ivory is expensive mainly because its supply is very limited, coming from elephant tusks only, and secondly because of its value as a material due to its carving qualities and its status as rare luxury goods