Greed taking its toll on elephant populations

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http://www.asahi.com/english/vox/TKY200402190128.html

 

Greed taking its toll on elephant populations

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Myths and legends abound about elephants. The reputed

``elephants' graveyard'' is probably one such example.

 

 

It is widely believed that an elephant leaves its herd

for the graveyard when it realizes it is dying. Death

comes quietly as the animal lies down amid countless

bones and tusks.

 

The solemn dignity displayed by elephants matches

their evident self-pride. But the established academic

view is that elephant graveyards do not exist and are

just a product of the imagination.

 

Even so, we often hear dramatic tales about the death

of an elephant. This is probably because of the

extraordinary sorrow shown by elephants when a fellow

member dies.

 

When an elephant is dying, other members of the herd

make a desperate attempt to save its life, using their

tusks to help it rise from the ground. With all hope

lost, they set about burying the dead. They dig up

earth with their forelegs and tusks and pour it over

the carcass. They cover the carcass with tree branches

broken off with their noses.

 

Even when the burial is completed, they do not leave

the spot. A three-day vigil kept by fellow elephants

is reported in a behavioral study of African elephants

in ``Among the Elephants'' by Oria and Douglas

Hamilton. (A Japanese translation, titled ``Yasei-no

Kyozo,'' meaning giant elephants in the wild, has been

published by The Asahi Shimbun.)

 

Elephants take the trouble of burying the dead not

just for members of the herd. In one case cited in a

book ``Dobutsu Tachi-no Shizen Kenkoho'' (How animals

stay fit in nature), an elephant killed an attacking

lion by dashing it to the ground, and covered the

carcass with tree branches broken off in the bush.

(The book has been published by Kinokuniya Co.)

 

Blessed with good memory, elephants do not forget to

stop when they come later to the spot where a member

of the herd has died.

 

Scientists have learned that elephants living on

Borneo appear to be a new subspecies that evolved

independently. But their extinction is already feared

because only about 2,000 Bornean elephants exist.

 

The total population of Asian elephants is estimated

to range from 35,000 to about 50,000. It is only

natural that Asian elephants have been designated as

an endangered species.

 

Development and poaching are the agents of destruction

for elephants. The sinfulness of humans is mirrored in

the way elephants sorrowfully lament their dead.

 

--The Asahi Shimbun, Feb. 18(IHT/Asahi: February

19,2004) (02/19)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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