The Sri Lankan elephant is a beautiful and friendly mammal. . Elephants and humans have a long history of working and living together. In fact, they have been a cherished and essential part of Sri Lankan religious culture for centuries. Let’s learn some more about these impressive creatures:
- This species lives on the South Asian island of Sri Lanka.
- The Sri Lankan elephant is the largest of the Asian elephant subspecies, although it is still smaller than the African elephant.
- They can be gray, brown, or black in color. The Sri Lankan elephant is the darkest of the Asian elephants.
- Sri Lankan elephants are herbivores. Their diet consists of vegetation, fruit, nuts, seeds, grasses, leaves, and bark.
- Male elephants are larger than females. They weigh between 4,000 and 12,000 pounds, reach 18 to 21 feet in length, and stand 6 to 11 feet in height at the shoulder.
- Their biggest threats are tigers and humans.
- The Sri Lankan elephant population has dwindled to approximately 2,500 to 4,000 as their preferred natural habitat of tropical woodlands and rainforest disappears. Part of their decline is also attributed to humans hunting them for their coveted ivory.
- These majestic creatures have been on the endangered species list since 1986.
- You can find herds of Sri Lankan elephants in a number of national parks, as well as in unprotected areas in the wild.
- Sri Lankan elephants live for 55 to 70 years in the wild.
- They use their trunks and tusks to communicate with other members of the herd. They also have a number of vocal calls they use across both short and long distances.
Sri Lankan elephants are truly fascinating and gorgeous animals!
There are no tigers in Sri Lanka. The largest predator is the leopard snd there are no known incidents of leopards attacking an elephant as they are much smaller on stature compared to lions and leopards.
Secondly, the Sri Lankan elephant males do not have tusks but only in rare cases.
Thanks for educating me! It is fascinating and I always learn something ‼️
I have read that deforestation for paper production is a major threat to Asian elephant habitat.
Very interesting to read and always sad to see human behavior as a vital threat to so many species,yet so true. After all the history,knowledge and education we are still not making enough difference . An older book,but one I will try to read again is “When Elephants Weep; The Emotional Lives of Animals ” by Jeffrey Moussaieeff Masson. Published in 1995, it can be difficult to digest the captivity many well studied animals live in,but the research is very important on how animals have the same emotions humans do