Indian ElephantIndian Elephant

© Kirsty Burgess/WLT

Indian Elephants

Their scientific name is Elephas maximus.

Asian Elephants are also found in Thailand, Mynamar, Sri Lanka, and Malaysia.

The Indian Elephant, an Asian Elephant, is found in India.

Indian Elephants can live in a range of habitats. From tropical forests to grassland and scrubland.

What habitat do they live in?

Indian Elephants are one of the largest land mammals alive today and they need a lot of food and habitat to move about in.

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Why are they threatened?The major threats to the Indian Elephant are; habitat loss, conflict with people, and hunting by people.

People cut down the forest, where Indian Elephants live, to grow crops.

Humans and Elephants can come into conflict when the people try to defend their crops (for example rice and bananas) against the hungry Elephants. ©

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Click to see a picture of crops where there used to be forest.

Click to see a picture of Elephant footprints through a field of crops.

How do they communicate?

Indian Elephants use loud trumpets when they are excited or afraid.They also use chirps, roars and rumbles to communicate.

They use body language such as flapping their ears or raising their tail.

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Click here to find out how else they communicate

Sometimes several family groups will travel together. A family group is made up of a mother and youngsters. The old males travel alone.

Family LifeIndian Elephants live in family groups of 6 or more.

Click to learn about elephant family groups

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Click to see picture

What do they eat?

Unfortunately Indian Elephants will also eat crops planted by people.

Indian Elephants are herbivores.

Indian Elephants eat all parts of a tree; twigs, bark, roots, leaves and fruit, they also eat grasses and shrubs.

Here Indian Elephants have fed on banana plants

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Click to learn about the wild food of Indian Elephants.

How long do they live?

The Indian Elephant can live 60 or 70 years – making them the oldest living land mammal.

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How long do you think an Indian Elephant lives? Click to find out

How big do they grow?

3 meters tall and 6 meters long.

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How big do you think an Indian Elephant grows? Click to find out

What do they look like?

Indian Elephants have thick, wrinkly, grey skin, and big ears. Their long trunks (noses) are used to breathe, touch and pick things up, and to suck up water to drink.

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Tell me about their babies:

A female Indian Elephant will give birth to one calf every 4 years, after a long pregnancy.

For up to 2 years.

All the female elephants in the group will help take care of the babies.

How long do you think baby elephants will feed on milk?

Click for answer

© Gareth West and Stacey Manley

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Interesting facts:

Indian Elephants have been used by people to clear logs in the forest, carry heavy objects, and entertain tourists for many years.

The pregnancy of an Indian Elephant is 22 months, the longest pregnancy of any mammal.

Indian Elephants are good swimmers and use their trunks as snorkels in deep water.

A story from the wild:

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Because Indian Elephants are such big animals they can frighten people if they cross roads in front of them, or if they walk through villages.

Click to see an Indian Elephant crossing a road in front of a van.

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Indian Elephants are curious, and they can damage houses and knock down walls as they search for food.

A house damaged by hungry Indian Elephants

Indian Elephants travel along the same routes as they search for food and water, as their parents and grandparents did before them. Because there are so many people living in India, roads and villages are sometimes built along these ancient routes.

Indian Elephants will eat and damage crops. Click to see.

Click again to see another reason Indian Elephants can scare people.

A story from the wild:The World Land Trust works with the Wildlife Trust of India to protect the ancient routes that Indian Elephants use.

They do this by inviting villagers who live along ancient Indian Elephant routes, to move to areas that are not used by Indian Elephants.

New houses are built for the villagers who want to move, and they formally hand over the village land for the protection of Indian Elephants.

This is a new house that has been built for a family that moved away from land used by Indian Elephants.

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How do they do this? Click to find out

Click again to see the family who have moved there.

If you choose the Indian Elephant as your fundraising focus, your donation will go towards World Land Trust projects for the conservation of wildlife habitat in India.

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