The Indian elephant is a sub-species of Asian elephant which includes the Indian elephant, the Sumatran elephant, the Sri-Lanka elephant and the Borneo elephant.
The Indian elephant is the most widely distributed of the four Asian
elephant sub-species. The Indian elephant is found throughout south-east
Asia including Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Laos, Peninsular
Malaysia, Burma, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand and Vietnam, and although
spread out, the wild Indian elephant population is thought to be around
just 20,000 individuals.
Indian elephants have been domesticated for
hundreds of years for foresting and often battle. There are many places
across south-east Asia where Indian elephants are kept for tourists to ride,
and are often treated fairly badly. All Asian elephants are well known
for their immense strength and friendliness towards humans. The Indian
elephant has smaller ears than the African elephant and the Indian
elephant also has a more curved spine than the African elephant.
The Indian elephant follows
strict migration routes that are determined by the monsoon season. The
eldest elephant of the Indian elephant herd is responsible for
remembering the migration route of its Indian elephant herd. This Indian
elephant migration generally takes place between the wet and dry
seasons and problems arose when farms where built along the migratory
routes of the Indian elephant herds, as the Indian elephants caused
a great deal of destruction to the newly founded farmland.
Due to their large size, Indian elephants have very few predators within
their natural environment. Besides human hunters, tigers are the
primary predator of the Indian elephant, although they tend to hunt the
smaller Indian elephant calves rather than the much larger and stronger
adults. Female Indian elephants are generally able to breed by
the time they are 10 years old, and give birth to a single Indian
elephant calf after a 22 month gestation period. When the Indian
elephant calf is first born, it weighs about 100 kg, and is cared for
not only by it's mother by also by other female Indian elephants in the
herd (known as aunties). Source
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