It is not easy to tame and raise an elephant, it recognizes only one owner, therefore, in Southeast Asia and African countries, even boys who literally grow up with their wards begin to raise elephants. Moreover, the lifespan of an elephant is similar to that of a human.
Mighty, majestic, these animals are a real mystery of nature. Elephants have a phenomenal memory and natural ear for music. They live in families, or rather societies, where there are older and younger representatives. Due to the hunt for elephant tusks, these animals were on the verge of extinction and were included in the Red Book as an endangered species.
Elephants are the largest mammals on earth. They belong to the proboscis order and live in the jungles, tropics and savannas of Africa and Southeast Asia.
Types of elephants
There are 2 types of elephants:
- African, - Indian.
In turn, these 2 species are divided into smaller subspecies. So, African elephants, for example, are forest and savannah. The species of the Indian elephant consists of only one subspecies, otherwise it is also called the Asian elephant.
On average, elephants of both species live for about 70 years, during the life of the female gives birth to two or three baby elephants, bearing each up to 22 months. A pregnant female is guarded by the entire herd, she is the first to be sent to the watering hole, there are cases when the herd turned out to be from food in order to feed the expectant mother in a dry, hungry year.
Slaves
Speaking about how long elephants live, you need to make an allowance for the fact that life expectancy depends on the position in the herd and living conditions. So, scientists have found that elephants in captivity live 3 times less than their counterparts, who were born and raised in the wild. Thus, the poor, placed in zoos and reserves, hardly live to be 20 years old.
Studies have also shown that elephants in captivity are subject to constant stress, often get sick, lead a sedentary lifestyle and rapidly gain weight. The study involved 4,500 elephants of various subspecies. As it turned out, African elephants in national parks lived on average 17 years, their Indian relatives - 19 years. The elephants who worked in the logging area managed to live to be 42 years old. The long-livers among the slaves turned out to be Kenyan individuals who live an average of 56 years.
Scientists estimate that 16 out of 24 hours a day, elephants eat plant foods, chewing them thoroughly. Thus, in a day, elephants eat 45 to 450 kg of food and consume about 100-300 liters of water.
Captive-born elephants live even less than those that ended up in national parks as adults. So, they live on average 15 years, while high mortality of elephants and infertility of females are common among them. Such a short life expectancy is explained, again, by their way of life. If in the wild elephants live in hierarchical families, actively move and perform a certain social role, then in zoos and reserves they are deprived of this, as a result of which intelligent elephants fall into depression, often refuse to eat.
