Proboscidea is an order with the meaning of “having a trunk”. The most important organ of them is their trunk which is their multipurpose equipment. This trunk is muscular without bones and fits the nasal bone having a free distal end. Nowadays the only existing animals of proboscideans are elephants and they are the biggest animals on land.
Based on the morphology and molecular biological studies three types of elephants are present on the Earth. They are the Asian elephant ( Elephas maximus ), the African elephant ( Loxodonta Africana ), and the African wild elephant ( Loxodonta cyclotis ).
Amazing Body Facts
- They have a relatively large brain capacity.
- They are Digitigrades – Strong legs are present to hold the heavyweight which can never sink in the mud.
- They have large external ear lobes that help to maintain the body temperature acting as a radiator.
- Skin is very thick and has a thick lipid layer below in the Asian elephant but the skin is wavy in nature in African elephants.
- Communication is done via ultra sounds using the trunk.
Tuskers
Elephants with tusks are known as tuskers. Tusks are the well-developed upper canine teeth. Those teeth can be elongated or tiny. Almost all the African elephants are tuskers but Asian elephants rarely have tusks.
The reason for this exception is a gene that causes canine elongation in an Asian elephant. When this gene is present in females, this gene is inactivated, and hence canines are not elongated. However when this gene is present in male elephants, then their gene becomes activated and the canine gets elongated. When a tusker mates with a female elephant they will not have a tusker as the result sometimes. Hence it is essential to have a particular gene in female elephants. That means the presence or absence of tusks is determined by the presence or absence of the particular gene in the female elephant.
Threats
According to CITES publications, an amount of 111000 tuskers have killed in Africa by tusker hunting. People kill tuskers to collect tusks and as a hobby to show their power. Normally there is no great value of the tusks apart from using as a method of showing their power and how rich they are. Anyway, Tusks are also used to prepare ornamentals and jewelry.
According to ancient British – Ceylon reports, 11000 of tuskers and elephants have been killed from 1837 to 1856 under the British Governance considering them as cruel wild animals and even prizes have been given to the hunters to enrich them.
An amount of 8300 of tuskers has been killed from 1853 to 1899 for commercial purposes under the British Governance. During the same period, elephants in Sri Lanka were killed to maintain the tea estates and surprisingly, as a hobby.
Nowadays people kill tuskers and elephants to take tusks and due to the battle between humans and wild elephants. The main reason for this battle is irregular human colonization.
However, it is of utmost importance to protect both elephants and tuskers due to the rareness of the tusk genes.
By Rtr. Pasindu Rajapaksha
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A great read!
Thank you