Elephant Valley
Menu- WELCOME TO THE ELEPHANT VALLEY!
- FROM ASIA OR AFRICA?
- FROM THE LIFE OF ELEPHANTS
- WATER OVER GOLD
- BIG EATERS
- ELEPHANTS ENDANGERED
- HARD LIFE WITH ELEPHANTS
- HARD LIFE WITH PEOPLE
- PARTNERSHIP OF PEOPLE AND ELEPHANTS
- ELEPHANTS IN CEREMONIES
- ELEPHANTS AT WORK
- ELEPHANTS FROM PINNAWALA
- GANESHA
- ELEPHANTS IN HINDUISM
- THE SOVEREIGN WHITE ELEPHANT
- THE DREAM OF THE WHITE ELEPHANT
FROM ASIA OR AFRICA?
Today it’s only possible to encounter elephants in the wild in Africa and Asia. In our zoo you can see elephants from Asia, which belong to the species of Asian elephant. They differ from their African cousins in a number of immediately recognisable characteristics.
ASIAN ELEPHANT
- The trunk ends with a single tactile finger
- Smaller pointed ears, often turned in on the top edge
- Two significant bumps on the forehead
- Cow elephant tusks (tushes) are small and inconspicuous, often not protruding from the mouth
- Straight or dome-shaped back reaching the highest point midway along its length
- Four nails on the hind legs
AFRICAN ELEPHANT
- The trunk ends with two tactile fingers
- Large rounded ears, often undulating along the edge
- No bumps on the forehead
- Significantly long tusks, usually in both sexes
- A saddle back reaching the highest point around the loins
- Three nails on the hind legs
INDESPENSABLE TRUNK
The trunk contains 150,000 muscle fascicles and the fingers at its tip are equipped with a huge number of nerve endings. These make the trunk both sensitive and strong and deliver exceptionally precise movements.
Using its trunk, an elephant is able to:
- Lift a 350kg object or break a tree.
- Collect water, mud and sand and eject it.
- Pull down food from a great height.
- Handle small objects.
- Distinguish smells better than a hunting dog.
- Sense and respond to even the gentlest of touches, and caress.
TUSKS AS A TOOL
Not all elephants have tusks. Once they grow them, however, they are able to use them for many purposes. They can be used for defence and attack, lifting logs, peeling bark, digging “wells” and digging up salt. In addition, bulls with long tusks seem to be more appealing to females.
Left-handed and right-handed
An elephant doesn’t use both tusks to the same extent; it always prefers one over the other. Even among elephants we can therefore distinguish the left-handed from the right-handed.
COOLING DOWN WITH THE EARS
Big ears, interwoven with a dense network of blood vessels, help an elephant expel superfluous body heat into the surroundings and keep cool. They also help elephants to communicate; for example, when held perpendicular to the head, like in a drawing, it’s an expression of agitation and threat.
When the ears are smaller
Asian elephants have smaller ears than African elephants. This is probably associated with the fact that they inhabit a more shaded, wetter environment and are able to keep themselves cool to a greater extent by bathing.