" Had a good chat in IWC about the elephants... then i think there is some mistakes in the quiz results.. when i attended the quiz `Elephants-Part IV` i did not knew all the right answers, so i made a guess on some and found that the answers i guessed were right but some which i thought to be right went wrong.. The question no 6 - When does an elephant reach maturity? The right answer is some about 15 .. the cow elephants reaches maturity at about 14. and the bulls reach the state of musth between the age of 15-18 . U can read about it from http://elephant.elehost.com/About_Elephants/Life_Cycles/Adolescent/adolescent.html The question no 7- Elephas maximus is the term used for…. The question no 10- There are two types of African Elephants. One is the Forest elephant. What is the other one? The Asian elephants are known by the scientific name Elephas maximus and the African elephants are known by the scientific name Loxodanta Africana Africana. The Asian elephants can be classified as Elephus Maximus Indicus (India) Elephus Maximus Ceylonicus (Sri Lanka) Elephus Maximus Burmanicus (Burma) Elephus Maximus Sumatramus (Sumatra) Elephus Maximus Hirsutus (Malayan) The African elephants are classified as Loxodonta africana (Afrcan Savannah) Loxodonta cyclotis (African forest) You can read more about it from http://www.bornfree.org.uk/elefriends/elefacts.htm or http://savetheelephants.org
In chat it was discussed that the elephants in captivity will live long than the wild ones.. but it depends. at the present situation i think that the bulls can live long in captivity because of the protection from the poachers... I have heard that the tuskers in the forest are very rare. As the number of tuskers in the forests have decreased the poachers have now tracking the tamed elephants. A elephant was killed on last month by some unknown people for its tusk by poisoning it with cyanide.. but they couldn't take away the tusk.. But the tuskers if given proper protection will live longer in forests.. In the case of tamed elephants they will live longer only in the ideal condition i.e. proper food and medicines at proper time. I have seen it only at Guruvayoor temple which houses about 60 elephants. there i saw an aged elephant which was teeth less.. It was fed with grass while the other elephants were fed with palm leaves. But most of the elephants are owned by the private owners who want to make profit out of the elephant.. when the elephant become aged they will not be interested in looking after the elephant as it is a profit less job. so the elephant will not live long ..... So i believe that the elephants will live longer at its on natural habitat. For the long life of tamed elephants the govt must provide them some retirement homes... We were told that 40% of the tuskers used in Rajastan were blind ... do u know what is the reason for such a large number becoming blind.. is it due to the torture on the premises of eyes, the vitamin deficiency, or cataract.. Have a nice day Sandeep