Nature has filled this world with so much beauty that once cannot help but be in awe of it. From mountains to oceans, streams and rivers, from the stars that light up the night sky, to the sun that illuminates our days, there are innumerable living and non-living things that exist together with us. Planet Earth is home to so much life, whether it be humans, plants, animals or sea-life.
Among the animals that call this planet home are the majestic creatures known as elephants. The largest of animals to reside on land today, elephants may be as huge as a beast in size, however they are anything but. Years of research has shown that elephants are in fact capable of expressing emotions such as love, grief, joy and anger. This makes them complex beings to understand.
Native to the region of Sri Lanka is one the three subspecies of the Asian elephant. The Sri Lankan elephant, known as Elephas maximus maximus, also happens to be the country’s national animal. They are the largest among the Asian elephants and reside mainly in the dry zones. These elephants usually live in herds comprising of close relatives.
The video shows a herd of elephants in their natural wildlife habitat, as they should be. One can see them moving about idly. A few can be seen consuming leaves. Elephants are heavy eaters. They can, in fact, eat up to 150 kilos of plants per day. Which is why it makes sense that they spend around three quarters of their day eating! Such great portions of food also lead to them producing large amounts of manure.
Elephants in general, are huge fans of water. They love to swim, bathe and play around in water. As can be seen in the video, adults are cooling off the heat by swimming and bathing in water. Quite a few, especially the calves are playfully throwing water around with their trunks, splashing and teasing each other playfully. Elephants can store up to 8 liters of water in their trunks. Their skin, which is about 2.5cm thick on average, with its wrinkles and folds, is also highly adapted to retain water. This helps elephants in combating the hot climate that they are accustomed to.
More so in the past, but elephants have long been used by humans to carry timber, as a means of transportation, and also participate in parades and other ceremonies. Elephants have long been hunted for ivory from their tusks. However, this practice has been declared unlawful. Sri Lankan law has death penalty for the hunting of elephants. These majestic creatures deserve to live happily, peacefully and safely in their natural habitat that is the wild.
