10 animals on the edge of extinction you didn't know about no.4

10 animals on the edge of extinction you didn't know about no.4 - Sumatran elephant

Hello everyone,

This is the 4th post in our '10 animals on the edge of extinction you didn't know about'. Today we are going to be talking about Sumatran elephants. You've probably all heard about Sumatran tigers, which are also on the edge of extinction, but Sumatran elephants are much less well-known.

Characteristics

Sumatran elephants live for around 70 years and grow 2 - 3.2m tall. They weigh 2 000 to 4 000 kg and are the smallest subspecies of Asian Elephant. The males have tusks, however, these don't grow as long as their African counterparts. The females also have tusks but these are normally so small, that they are hidden under the upper lip. Sumatran elephants are herbivores, eating bark, bananas, young fresh leaves and occasionally various wild herbs.

Social lives

Elephants are very social and live in herds of 20 - 35 individuals. These herds are led by a dominant female. Males leave when reach adolescence, either willingly or forcefully. Adult males are solitary, while adult females will stay in the herd. Elephants will breed at any time of the year but the peak season is during the rainy season. Pregnancy will last 19 - 21 months, that's more than double that of humans! This means that one female can only give birth once in 4 years, meaning that the population takes a long time to grow. A newborn calf will weigh less than 90 kg!

Population & Habitat

Sumatran elephants only live on Sumatra Island (in Indonesia). They live in forests and have a current population of 2 400 to 2 800 individuals. Their population is fragmented over different areas of the island and decreasing. In just the last 25 years, half of the population has been lost and they now only live in 69% of their original habitat. And over the last three generations (about 75 years) they have had an 80% population decline.

Human interference

Deforestation is the main reason for habitat loss. As farmland and human settlements expand into elephant territory, conflicts between farmers and elephants become more common. Most of these conflicts leave the elephants dead. They are also hunted for ivory, which has a very high commercial value. Due to all of these factors, in 2011 the IUCN changed their endangered status from endangered to critically endangered.

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Sources:

https://animalia.bio/sumatran-elephant
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumatran_elephant
https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/199856/9129626

Image:

This image, owned by Nonprofit Organizations (on flickr.com) is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

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