the Asian elephant marks wrongly as "Indian elephants", whom however, actually only one of the 4 living subtypes of the Asian elephant is, we often.
Shape Elephants reach a body-height up to 3,10 m and weigh up to 5 tons. The torso of the animals is massive. The back-line is exactly and easily upward curved. The forehead is steeply and through two big, bulge-good and spongy Knochenauftreibungen over the eyes (on both sides of the forehead-middle) back-shaped. The ears are essentially smaller than with the African elephants and look like a triangle put on the top. The trunk carries only one fort-sentence on its end, the so-called trunk-finger, that is at the upper edge of the trunk-end, the African has 2 trunk-fingers!) The females have only small or, what the case, not any tusks, very much more frequently is. Also the males possess, in the comparison to the African type, also very small tusks. In Sri Lanka, one finds these push-arms even only with 11 percent of all males.
The sexually mature steps between the 8. and 14. Year of life one. Environment-circumstances should play a big role on this occasion.
Way of life Asian elephants are day and twilight-animals. Since however it until 20 points on the day with the preparation and the consumption of the food is employed, they sometimes must be active also at night obligatorily. they live in the most different habitats, as Urwälder and mountain-forests until 3000 m of height (Z). B. on Sumatra, they venture in the Himalaja as far as to the snow line. Just as at home, they are in the grass and bamboo-jungle or in the bush-thicket, during the rain-time in dry-forests and during the dry-time in swamp-forests. they play an important role in the life-community of the rain-forests. Since the gigantic animals because of its size and strength, but also thanks to its universal trunks usable all plants of this herb - and lower tree-layer of the disposal stands, they create a natural balance between old plant-continuance and fresh sub-growth, that is available to other animals as food-sources on the other hand. Elephants also are in the situation without further, middle trees niederzutreten and bigger, to bring to perishing through Entrinden.
Territorial-behavior They usually very much place-scatter, animals live in big territories, that it, if at all, only during the dry-time leaves. The herds then hike into so-called dry-precincts. These hikes as well as the changes within the group-territories follow the same wide-stepped paths generation-long, the so-called elephant-streets, that also other animals make themselves usable in the dense rain-forest-jungle, rhinoceroses, tigers, stags and buffalos are to be found here regularly. But also the human being profits from this in the animal-empire of unique "sprint-remorse" of the elephants by using the elephant-streets directly or it drawing near as basis for its own street-constructions. The group-territory of the Asian elephants is so jointed that a main-change leads from water-place to water-place; the water-places are surrounded from a ring-change in each case on the other hand, from which several access-changes lead at the water. From the main-changes, additional-changes branch off to the feed-places.
Social-lives An elephant-herd is subdivided into several subgroups. Beside einzelgängerischen alto-bulls, there are bull-herds, in which the younger male animals are united, and stoves from mother-families, to which 8-10 adult females belong with its young. These female-associations often are again aufgespalten into two narrowly clannish groups. On the one side, we don't find sexually mature animals and adult cows adult females with young calves and young with adolescents boys and on the other side yet.
A taut ranking guarantees the group the cohesion. The leadership always has a found out Leitkuh. The animals are among each other personally known. Elephants constantly hold vocal and smell-like contact, more final through "Berüsseln" of the temples and cheek-glands, the mouth and the sex-organs; a solid social-structure settles down through it. Even the einzelgängerischen bulls know themselves exactly by putting down its scent and position-brands at certain points through excrement or Sichscheuern. However, they avoid every personal contact on that occasion.
Locomotion Elephants are Paßgänger. If they can also climb less well, however, they are extremely all-terrain. Normally, they move with about. 7 km per hour onward, however, also bigger routes with 15 km per hour can put back when rapid striding. At short notice, they gain even a speed of 40 km per hour and catch up with each fleeing human being with it. they incriminate the ground only with a pressure of 400-600 g per square-centimeter on that occasion sole-surface and hardly leave tracks consequently. In unknown terrain feels the ground before each step of the trunks. they are very good swimmers, who sent its trunk under water, as snorkels starts, they swim and like to also wallow in the mud. The skin-care calls on the most period beside the eating. The fanning the ears serves the temperature-regulation of the body.
Lautgebung The good memory for acoustic impressions, that one determined with elephants, lets closed at tone-remarks on an extensive repertoire. One can record in the individual hollowly rumbling, rumbling contact-lutes and rolling rolling or squeak with the greeting. A loud bellow is frequent to hear at the territory-border as Drohlaut at the meeting with foreign Artgenossen and with fear or fury the noted trumpet through the trunk. Also a communication obviously takes place beside it over big distances, without one knowing long time, as this works, because it will hear no tone-remarks on that occasion.
Reproduction The reproductive-installment is low. In an on average stable population, the pause amounts between the individual births with a cow approximately 4 years. The Tragzeit amounts to 20-22 months. During its life, a cow brings approximately 7 calves to the world. During a birth, the remaining group-members form a ring about the tossing cow, and two adult females help with the Niederkunft: they help the newborn on the legs and remove it from the embryonic-covers. In the birth, the boy's head usually first appears, after 10 minutes can stand, already go after approximately 1 hours. The young elephants live together in a "kindergarten", that one adult cow each oversees. This "aunt" spoon-feeds the boys also solid food, that the calves pick up beside the mother's milk soon. So they are nursed (that however only of the mother) until the end of its second year of life and are fed.
The Musth A particular condition is the particular appearance, that names the Inder "Musth." it becomes clear through the secretion of the temple-gland ("Musthdrüse") and through the behavior of the animals. The Musth is a still very little explored condition, between which a connection was established with the combination long time. Fact that animals more frequently propagate in Musth is that however, combinations are quite usual also outside this condition. During the Musth, the temple-gland separates one strongly smelling, brown-black, greasy liquid, that runs in wide bond with adult Asian elephant-bulls as far as into the mouth-corners, from. With Asian females, the Musth very rarely and then exists only quite weakly. it is on the other hand to be found with the African type with both sexes, even if essentially more weakly than with Indian-bulls. The bulls become unpredictably during the Musth and in captivity to a severe danger for the keepers. Is therefore brought in India Bullen in the Musth in one distant forest-piece and is chained at all four legs at trees, until this condition is past. In zoological gardens, bulls are therefore held very rarely, and is also bred only in exceptions consequently.
Endangering The Asian elephant is valid today as threatens from the extinction. its habitat shrivels through the acquisition of land of the human being more and more so that only small retreat-areas, in which it separated far of each other, remain for the herds lives. Only on the island Sri Lanka, where the elephant is admired deeply, generously aimed preserves insist.
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