Thai Elephants and Its Significant to Thai Culture and History

Not surprisingly, elephants are known for being more emotional and empathetic animals than the rest. According the three articles, “Elephants Can Lend a Helping Trunk”, “Elephants Know When They Need a Helping Trunk in a Cooperative Task”, and “Elephants Console Each Other” elephants understand when they need each other’s assistance. All two authors describe the studies of elephant behavior differently, but with a similar purpose.

He was chained up on a daily basis. Thai elephants are working animals, the elephant therefore resembles, in his servant-to-master relation, the native Burman who was enrolled into the service of the British Empire. (Wilson and Lazzari) The elephant was over worked and the narrator describes how older male elephants experience a session of musk and are chained up until it has passed. In this case the elephant was strong enough to break the chain he was put on, lead his master in the wrong direction and trail heavily into town.

Thesis: (Nature is the driving force of the world, with a part of this the animal kingdom; in particular; the elephant a majestic gentle giant with intellect, emotions, and so many amazing things that people should know.)( Elephants are beautiful, intelligent, and important animals that have so many fun things to learn about.)

Animals are supposed to be treated with respect. Examples of disrespect include entertainment such as Sea World and circuses. But instead of living harmoniously with them. Humans have tampered with their way of life. The deadly combination of habitat destruction and poaching has eliminated numerous species. Both parties are aware of the aftermath. However only one party is capable of making a change. Time is running out and it dosn't look good. If a change dosn't occur soon, the few remaining wild Elephants will become extinct.

The elephant had been chained up which is normal when they are about to enter the “must” time.

The official title of the world’s largest land dwelling animal belongs to the elephant, more specifically, the African elephant. Elephants also are some of the most deadly animals, which therefore increase the danger of human and elephant interactions. The more human interactions occur, the more deaths result, whether it is the elephant or the human who dies. These animals, surprisingly, are socially apt; their trunk is used for more than just eating and drinking- it is used for socializing. They are complex animals who live in large familial herds-females stay with their family throughout their entire lives while males only stay for approximately fifteen years (Elephant Protection, 1). Elephants possess a great memory and only forget what they learn occasionally and rarely, giving way to the “an elephant never forgets” saying (Maloiy, 178c). Despite how many people use the beloved saying, elephants may not be around much longer due to the shortened life span and increased mortality rates. Due to their incisor teeth, tusks, being extremely expensive and profitable, they are being murdered for the wealth they carry. This, coupled with the life span shortening because of malicious treatments and brutal practices reduces the life span of the African elephant from 56 to 16 years and the Asian elephant from 42 to 19 years (Elephant Protection, 1). According to what the statistics show, elephants may be following their ancestors to their death. Of the group of mammals called

For about twenty eight years now the Asian elephant has been struggling for existence. They have been classified as endangered species by The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Twenty eight years is quite a large amount of time for an animal to be classified as endangered so The Zoological Society of London decided to look into this issue. Asian elephants have been transferred to captivity for quite some time in the North American region. The Elephas maximus have been captured from these countries in southern Asia and brought over to North America and have experienced many complications that can hinder the genetic diversity of the evolution of the species. Captive populations of the Elephas maximus species may be essential for genetic preservation and aid in decreasing the deterioration of the authentic population (Brenneman et al. 2011).

The Sumatran Elephant is a highly endangered animal. This animal has been forced closer and closer to human territory because of their failing ecosystem. This causes them to more likely raid crops and come in contact with humans. They then hunt

The Bush elephant has to make annual migrations to find suitable conditions, these migrations can be up to several hundred kilometers. The Bush elephants usually migrate from a permeant water source at the beginning of the rainy season, then return during the dry season (once what water holes begins to dry up). When the water is scarce the elephants will dig holes in water beds using their trucks, feet and tusks. Once enough water emerges to use their trunk to suck up the water. They usually prefer to be near water sources. The Bush elephant needs 200-300 kg of food a day and 160 liters of fresh water a day. They are herbivorous. The diet of the Bush elephant consist of: roots, bark, twigs, shrubs, roots, herbs, grass, tree foliage and some

Elephants have been used in war for 2,300 years. The first known use of them was in Ancient Greece and they have more recently been used in the Vietnam War. Alexander the Great was well-known for the “most-instrumental spread of elephants as a weapon of war” (Knodell, 2014). “Elephants were the tanks of the ancient battlefield” (Knodell, 2014). The mere sight, or smell, of these beasts could cause the enemy to retreat. If the enemy did not retreat, however, the elephants would often disrupt their formation. Even cavalry horses were afraid of the smell, sight, and sounds of the oncoming elephants. The horses would refuse to proceed.

Elephants have been victims of not just the incessant poaching but also of the civil wars; ultimately making them to fight back. The killing case have gone over the roof, as the “singular perversity” (Siebert 353) of the attacks. In India, “nearly one thousand people have been killed by elephants between 2000 and 2004” (Siebert 353). Several frequent attacks were recorded in Africa and other villages where the denizens were forced to evacuate their houses. ‘nearly one thousand’ which accentuates the gravity of the situation in 4 years had gained a lot of attention from the elephants researchers. Seibert’s prime third perspective, Gay Bradshaw, Oregon State psychologist, claims that that “everybody pretty much agrees that the relationship between elephants and people has dramatically changed” (Siebert 353). The choice of diction ‘dramatically’ indicates that elephants are not being violent towards human beings but they are also doing it intentionally. Dramatic behavior changes over the years are now being explained in the elephants. “Bradshaw and several colleagues argued that today’s elephant populations are suffering from a form of chronic stress, a kind of species-wide trauma” (Siebert 354), due to “decades of poaching and habitat loss” (Siebert 354). Elephants are becoming more destructive and Bradshaw looked into combining “traditional research into elephant behavior with insights about trauma drawn from

The year is 1,002,016 and it’s scorching hot! The African Bush Elephant’s trunk has evolved to be six inches longer. The ancient elephants had a different variation of the trunk, some of them had a smaller trunk, some elephants with longer trunks. Now that there was different types of elephants natural selection came into place so, more and more of the elephants had longer trunks, but as time has passed water became scarce. As a result, the elephants with the smaller trunks in the population diminished. Since they were not able to survive. The elephant with the longer trunk were able to survive more. Now the trait will help the elephant survive since, it was able to adapt to their new dry sandy habitat since it be able to smell the water

Elephant has long been known as one of man’s best friends, who have peacefully coexisted along with humanity for thousands of years. However, the relationship between the two is no longer in the equilibrium state. In “An Elephant Crackup?”, Charles Siebert discusses the downfall of the elephants. He gives a depiction of the recent raging and violent acts of the elephants among themselves and toward other species, including humans, and presents an educated and almost unexpected explanation to their behaviors. He says elephants are just like us; they have feelings and now are “suffering from a form of chronic stress, a kind of species-wide trauma”(Siebert 354). The similarity that should be something fascinating is now slowly turning them into the immensely savage beasts before wiping them out of existence. Even when the appearance of the words “stress” and “trauma” looks like a serious case of “anthropocentric conjecture”, it provides a totally new vision, a fresh way of looking at the boiling issue of the disappearance and sadistic acts of elephants specifically and wild animals at large. With the help of two powerful essays: “Great to Watch” by Maggie Nelson and “The Power of Context” of Malcolm Gladwell, the issue of the unusual behaviors of the elephants is thoroughly illuminated and its solution no longer seems to be out of human’s reach.

In 1989, to halt the rape of its thick forests, Thailand banned the centuries-old industry of logging. The result: Logging was stopped (legal logging, anyway) - and thousands of elephants suddenly found themselves jobless. This was less of a problem for the elephants than for their gobsmacked mahouts (owners), who faced the challenge of providing their elephants with about 500 pounds of food a day with no source of income.

Elephant is a short story written by Polly Clark in 2006. My focus point is William and his life, which I will analyze and interpret. I will also discuss the