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Tamil Nadu Forest Department
Thadam
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KEY FACTS

Elephants may spend 12-18 hours a day eating. They require approximately 150-200 kg of food and up to 200 liters of water each day.

Common Name

Indian Elephant.

Scientific Name

Elephas maximus

Diet

Herbivore.

Geographical Habitat

Diverse, including forests, grasslands, and wetlands.

Social Structure

Matriarchal family groups.

Status

Endangered.

Height

2.3 - 3.3m

Length

5.5-6.4m (tip of trunk to tip of tail)

Weight

Male 3500 - 6000kg; Female 2500-4000kg.

Lifespan

60-70 years.

Speed

Up to 40 km/h.

Population

Around 26,000.


  • In some parts of Asia, people and elephants have
    co-existed for thousands of years.
  • Elephant is a highly intelligent animal with a great
    capacity to learn new things. Much of elephant behavior is learned
    from the elders over the years rather than being instinctive.
  • Indian elephant has a lifespan between 40 and 65 years
    with some animals reported to have lived for more than 75 years.
  • An Asian elephant bull can attain a height of 11 feet
    and a weight of over six tonnes.
  • Tusks on average are between 3 and 6ft (91 to 182cm) long
    Females and some males (called makhnas) do not have tusks but have
    small tusk-like teeth called tushes.
  • Their diet includes grasses, bamboo shoots,
    leaves, roots and bark.
  • Females become sexually mature at around 15 years.
    Males between the ages of 9 and 13 disperse from the matriarchal group
    and establish their independent home range.
  • A single calf is born after a gestation of 18 to 22 months
    and is nursed for two to four years.
    Other female elephants in the group, especially sub-adult females,
    care for the calf, too – a phenomenon referred to as allomothering.
  • Adult bulls are mainly solitary but form temporary associations
    with other males and join female groups primarily for mating.
    During a period known as 'musth', males exhibit a period of
    heightened sexual activity combined with increased aggression.

Asian elephant (Elephas maximus)

Feature Image

Asian elephants live in the tropical forests and grasslands of Southeast Asia. The Asian Elephants has been classified as “Endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature listed in Schedule – I of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act (1972). Elephants are 'mega-herbivores' that require vast tracts of natural habitat such as forests and grasslands rich in food, water and shade. In the past Asian elephants ranged over a large area of the Indian subcontinent. However, its movement is now restricted to four discontinuous distributions (North, North East, Central, and Southern India).

In recent times, instances of people and elephants coming into conflict has increased, resulting in violence, and ultimately, the displacement of elephants. Conflicts like crop damages, property damages, human casualties, etc. Asian elephants are threatened by forest destruction and population fragmentation, due to agricultural expansion and infrastructure development. Other threats to their survival include targeted and opportunistic poaching for their tusks, as well as the trafficking of live elephants for captive entertainment purposes.

In order to mitigate conflict between elephant and humans,
the Tamil Nadu Forest Department has taken various preventive
and mitigation measures like formation of Elephant Proof Trenches,
Solar Fence, Stone wall fence, Steel wire rope fence,
Solar powered steel wire rope fence and Hanging solar fence and
engagement of Anti-Poaching Watchers for elephant driving.
Forest department has constructed several artificial waterholes,
Check dams, Percolation Ponds to provide water facilities to animals inside forest

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Get in touch

About Thadam

coexist with elephants, harmoniously.

Phone: +1 234 567 89 10

Email:[email protected]

Associations
  • TBGPCCR
  • JICA
  • Forest Department
Divisions
  • Salem
  • Dharmapuri
  • Hosur
  • Coimbatore
  • Sathyamangalam
  • Pollachi
  • ATR
  • Erode
  • Hassanur

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