Ungulates. Sorry, hippos.
There is another entry on this blog about this exact elephant. There was also a video that picked up his mimicking of his handler during the nighttime hours they were separated. I think of the behavior as a human equivalent of sucking his thumb. This elephant was making the same sounds he heard during the day from his trainer to comfort him. He was lonely. He was exhibiting stress to his aloneness.
The understanding of elephants deep social structure is not simply found from one example. There are scientists that have studied locations in the world, now protected, where elephants meet to breed and comfort each other. Elephants have a very integrate language exhibited in very low frequency that is nearly out of human audible range.
This same behavior, oddly enough, is seen in whales, too. The humpbacks are the best example. They have 17 distinct sounds they make to communicate with each other in the pod. Why oddly? Because whales are proven to be mutations of Pakistan elephants as they entered the sea in adaptive behaviors over time.
I do not lie. It is all true. Pakistan has been the country with a wealth of knowledge regarding the mutation of whales from larger land mammals. This research has been known a long time. This is not a new discovery.
The best domestic example of how a species developed to be very different than it's ancestors, is the modern day horse. There are many species in the world that have adapted to their environment over time to have a very different genetic outcome than their ancestors.
This elephant is precious. He provided a window into his social needs. His handler is as precious, too. I noted the chain on the elephant's back leg. That is in place for the purpose of the video. The socialization is so strong with his handler he would engage in play rather than making a teaching video. If I recall correctly, the elephant has a large outdoor paddock where his handler communicates from outside the fence. He is a very big elephant, sweetheart that he is.
"World Elephant Day" (click here)
The poaching rate in 2014 remained virtually unchanged compared with 2013. . . elephant populations remain in decline.”'
The Asian elephant, whose habitat ranges over 13 countries across Asia, is an endangered species with less than 40,000 remaining worldwide – less than a tenth of the African elephant population.
There are significant losses of individuals across the species lines. It doesn't matter the species of elephant they are poached heavily for their ivory. Everything has been tired including armed park rangers. There are too many poachers and while some are caught, others are not.
Ivory is still marketed in Asia.
