Sumatran Elephant: Large Mammals of the near extinction of Sumatran
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By: Hasri Abdillah et al.
Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus) is one of the three subspecies of Asian elephant who only found in Sumatra. Two other subspecies are the Asian Elephant (Elephant maximus maximus) found in Sri Lanka and India Gajah (Elephant maximus indicus) found in Southeast Asia and India. Sumatran elephants themselves are only found in Sumatra, Indonesia is spread almost in all regions of Sumatra, namely Aceh, North Sumatra, Riau, Jambi, Bengkulu, South Sumatra and Lampung.
As for the scientific, large mammals are classified into:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Sub-phylum: Vertebrata
Classes: mammalian
Order: Proboscidea
Family: Elephantidae
Genus: Elephas
Species: Elephas maximus Linnaeus, 1758
Sub-species: Elephas maximus sumatranus, Temminck, 1947
Sumatran elephants have smaller body than the Indian elephant and the African Elephant, where the weight of adult elephant reaches 3500-5000 kg. But in general characteristic of Sumatran elephants have more body fat and wide, at the end of the trunk has a lip. Unlike the African elephant, Sumatran elephants have 5 nails on the front foot and four nails on the hind legs.
As elephants in general, Sumatran elephants also do a lot of movement within home ranges (home range) wide so that using more than one type of habitat. These animals can be found in various types of habitats / ecosystems, ranging from coast to an altitude of 1500 masl. Some types of forest habitat Sumatran elephants are commonly used:
Swamp forest; this forest type can be either meadow marsh, swamp forest, primary or secondary swamp forest dominated by Gluta renghas, Campenosperma auriculata, C. macrophylla, Alstonia spp, and Eugenia spp.
Peat swamp forests; some types of vegetation in this forest type include Gonystilus bancanus, Dyera costulata, Licuala spinosa, Shorea spp., Alstonia spp., And Eugenia spp.
Lowland forests; a forest type that is at an altitude 0-750 m asl with the dominant vegetation types are of the family Dipterocarpaceae.
Low mountain rain forest; are types of forests at an altitude of 750-1500 meters above sea level. The types of dominant vegetation is Altingia excelsa, Dipterocarpus spp., Shorea spp., Quercus spp., And Castanopsis spp.
Some of the requirements of Sumatran elephants in the wild life that absolutely must be available are:
1. Shade
Sumatran elephants including warm-blooded animals, so if the weather conditions are hot they will move to find shelter (thermal cover) to stabilize body temperature to match the surroundings. Places that are often used as a shade or shelter and rest in the daytime is a dense forest vegetation.
2. Food
For herbivorous animals, Sumatran elephants requires the availability of food in the form of green vegetation in their habitat enough. Because digestion is less than perfect, he takes food very much, ie 200-300 kg of biomass per day for each adult elephants or 5-10% of their body weight. To meet the needs of this enormous meal, Sumatran elephants to travel up to 20 miles per day.
3. Water
Wildlife including Sumatran elephants are highly dependent on the water, so in the afternoon are usually looking for the source of water for drinking, bathing and wallowing. A Sumatran elephants need water to drink as much as 20-50 liters per day. When water resources drought, these animals will do the digging water 50-100 cm deep in the basics of using a dry river front legs and trunk. He was also able to detect the presence of water sources within a radius of 5 kilometers.
4. Mineral Salts
In addition to these needs, elephants also need mineral salts, such as: calcium, magnesium and potassium to strengthen bones, teeth and ivory. These salts are obtained by eating soil containing lumps of salt, ground menggemburkan cliffs hard with the front legs and tusks, and eat during rainy days or after rain.
5. Roaming the space or area (home range)
Elephants are the largest land mammals and thus require a very large home ranges. The size ranges including Sumatran elephants Asian Elephant was varied between 32.4 to 166.9 km2. Units ranges elephant groups in the primary forest has a size two times larger than the ranges in secondary forests.
6. Security and comfort
In order for mating behavior (breeding) is not disturbed and the reproductive process can run well, elephants generally requires a safe and comfortable for the elephants, including animals that are very sensitive to sounds. Therefore, deforestation by logging companies is estimated to have compromised the safety and comfort of an elephant because exploitation activities with high intensity and the use of heavy equipment in it cause noise in the woods.
Sumatran elephants as elephants generally live in groups (gregarious) a very important role in protecting members of the group. The amount of members of each group varies greatly, depending on the season and the condition and carrying capacity of habitat, particularly food and extensive ranges available. But usually the number of members of one group of Sumatran elephants ranged 3-23 20-35 tail or tail. Each group is led by the greatest female parent, whereas the adult male elephants only in a certain period of residence in the group to mate with several females in the group. Young male elephant had grown up and will be forced to leave the group or go voluntarily to join a group of other males. Meanwhile, a young female elephants remain a member of the group and act as an aunt caregivers in the group "kindergarten" or kindergartens. Old elephant will live alone because no longer able to follow the group
By nature, the elephant is doing exploration follow a certain path which remains within a year of exploration. In one night, the elephant is able to reach a distance of 7 km, even in the dry season or summer fruits in the forest can reach 15 miles per day. Speed of elephants walking and running in the woods (for short distances) and in the marsh beyond human speed in the same field.
During the crawl, a herd of elephants to communicate to maintain the integrity of the group using the soft sound vibrations generated from the base of the trunk. Today it was found that elephants also communicate through subsonic sound that can reach a distance of ± 5 km. This discovery has solved the mystery of coordination in a herd of elephants who are looking for food in long-distance and not seeing each other each other. Elephants are also able to swim across the river using the trunk as a "snorkel" or breathing tube.
As with other species of Asian elephant, Sumatran elephants sleep standing up. During sleep, his ears always dikipas-Fan. Sumatran elephants, having a wedding at the age of 10-12 years. And will give birth to a child four years with the period containing up to 22 months.
Currently Sumatran elephants are increasingly threatened the existence of which the population is steadily declining. Based on a survey conducted in 2007, the population of these animals live throughout the island of Sumatra 2400-2800 tail spread across seven provinces of Aceh, North Sumatra, Riau, Jambi, Bengkulu, South Sumatra and Lampung. Even since 2007 the species is believed to have disappeared from the National Park Bukit Twelve. In the IUCN red list book (The World Conservation Union), Sumatran elephants are listed as threatened with extinction (endangered), while the CITES (Convention on International Trade of Endangered Fauna and Flora / Fauna Convention on International Trade and Plant) categorize these animals in the group Appendix I. In Indonesia alone, since the year 1931 (Wild Animals Protection Ordunansi), this animal has been declared as protected species laws and endangered species so that its existence should be noted and preserved.
Reduced population of elephants in the wild because of poaching in addition, also due to the decreasing area of elephant habitat. Reduction in real elephant habitat is due to changes in the function of forests into large-scale monoculture plantations (oil palm, rubber, cocoa) which has been displacing habitat for Sumatran elephants. In addition it also has made an elephant stuck in small blocks of forest that is not enough to sustain life for long-term elephant, which on the other hand is also a trigger for conflict between humans and elephants.
It also occurs in the forest area register 40 which is one of the habitat for Sumatran elephants found in the district of Padang Lawas North Sumatra Province. Based on SRI survey results, obtained information from the public that in this region there are at least about 50 Sumatran elephants are divided into small groups. However, at this time due to the occurrence of illegal logging and forest functional changes to oil palm plantations led to the shrinking habitat of this area. This resulted in groups of Sumatran elephants often enter the area of oil palm plantations and damage young plants. Even in June 2009 occurred herd Sumatran elephants that destroy one unit houses around the area of oil palm plantations. This location is located in the Village District Sialiali Lubuk Barumun Padang Lawas District. SRI When reviewing the location, the team still found the remains of buildings that were damaged as well as plantations of young people who had eaten his young shoots / palm. Also found also dirt elephant still wet around the incident area.
References:
Department of Forestry. 2007. Strategy and Action Plan for Elephant Conservation in Sumatra and Borneo Elephant 2007-2017.
Sumatran elephants and the problem is. Volume XII No.1/Januari-Maret 2008. http://www.profauna.org/suarasatwa/id/2008/01/gajah_sumatera_dan_permasalahannya. html # population. Accessed on January 13, 2010.
Know Sumatran elephants. 2005. http://www.wwf.or.id/berita_fakta/berita_fakta/?5484/ Know-Elephant-Sumatra. Tnggal Accessed January 13, 2010.
The introduction of the Area Ecosystem Survey Barumun Kingdom. 2009. Survey Report BIOPALAS-USU and Sumatra Rainforest Institute (SRI).
E-mail Print PDF
By: Hasri Abdillah et al.
Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus) is one of the three subspecies of Asian elephant who only found in Sumatra. Two other subspecies are the Asian Elephant (Elephant maximus maximus) found in Sri Lanka and India Gajah (Elephant maximus indicus) found in Southeast Asia and India. Sumatran elephants themselves are only found in Sumatra, Indonesia is spread almost in all regions of Sumatra, namely Aceh, North Sumatra, Riau, Jambi, Bengkulu, South Sumatra and Lampung.
As for the scientific, large mammals are classified into:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Sub-phylum: Vertebrata
Classes: mammalian
Order: Proboscidea
Family: Elephantidae
Genus: Elephas
Species: Elephas maximus Linnaeus, 1758
Sub-species: Elephas maximus sumatranus, Temminck, 1947
Sumatran elephants have smaller body than the Indian elephant and the African Elephant, where the weight of adult elephant reaches 3500-5000 kg. But in general characteristic of Sumatran elephants have more body fat and wide, at the end of the trunk has a lip. Unlike the African elephant, Sumatran elephants have 5 nails on the front foot and four nails on the hind legs.
As elephants in general, Sumatran elephants also do a lot of movement within home ranges (home range) wide so that using more than one type of habitat. These animals can be found in various types of habitats / ecosystems, ranging from coast to an altitude of 1500 masl. Some types of forest habitat Sumatran elephants are commonly used:
Swamp forest; this forest type can be either meadow marsh, swamp forest, primary or secondary swamp forest dominated by Gluta renghas, Campenosperma auriculata, C. macrophylla, Alstonia spp, and Eugenia spp.
Peat swamp forests; some types of vegetation in this forest type include Gonystilus bancanus, Dyera costulata, Licuala spinosa, Shorea spp., Alstonia spp., And Eugenia spp.
Lowland forests; a forest type that is at an altitude 0-750 m asl with the dominant vegetation types are of the family Dipterocarpaceae.
Low mountain rain forest; are types of forests at an altitude of 750-1500 meters above sea level. The types of dominant vegetation is Altingia excelsa, Dipterocarpus spp., Shorea spp., Quercus spp., And Castanopsis spp.
Some of the requirements of Sumatran elephants in the wild life that absolutely must be available are:
1. Shade
Sumatran elephants including warm-blooded animals, so if the weather conditions are hot they will move to find shelter (thermal cover) to stabilize body temperature to match the surroundings. Places that are often used as a shade or shelter and rest in the daytime is a dense forest vegetation.
2. Food
For herbivorous animals, Sumatran elephants requires the availability of food in the form of green vegetation in their habitat enough. Because digestion is less than perfect, he takes food very much, ie 200-300 kg of biomass per day for each adult elephants or 5-10% of their body weight. To meet the needs of this enormous meal, Sumatran elephants to travel up to 20 miles per day.
3. Water
Wildlife including Sumatran elephants are highly dependent on the water, so in the afternoon are usually looking for the source of water for drinking, bathing and wallowing. A Sumatran elephants need water to drink as much as 20-50 liters per day. When water resources drought, these animals will do the digging water 50-100 cm deep in the basics of using a dry river front legs and trunk. He was also able to detect the presence of water sources within a radius of 5 kilometers.
4. Mineral Salts
In addition to these needs, elephants also need mineral salts, such as: calcium, magnesium and potassium to strengthen bones, teeth and ivory. These salts are obtained by eating soil containing lumps of salt, ground menggemburkan cliffs hard with the front legs and tusks, and eat during rainy days or after rain.
5. Roaming the space or area (home range)
Elephants are the largest land mammals and thus require a very large home ranges. The size ranges including Sumatran elephants Asian Elephant was varied between 32.4 to 166.9 km2. Units ranges elephant groups in the primary forest has a size two times larger than the ranges in secondary forests.
6. Security and comfort
In order for mating behavior (breeding) is not disturbed and the reproductive process can run well, elephants generally requires a safe and comfortable for the elephants, including animals that are very sensitive to sounds. Therefore, deforestation by logging companies is estimated to have compromised the safety and comfort of an elephant because exploitation activities with high intensity and the use of heavy equipment in it cause noise in the woods.
Sumatran elephants as elephants generally live in groups (gregarious) a very important role in protecting members of the group. The amount of members of each group varies greatly, depending on the season and the condition and carrying capacity of habitat, particularly food and extensive ranges available. But usually the number of members of one group of Sumatran elephants ranged 3-23 20-35 tail or tail. Each group is led by the greatest female parent, whereas the adult male elephants only in a certain period of residence in the group to mate with several females in the group. Young male elephant had grown up and will be forced to leave the group or go voluntarily to join a group of other males. Meanwhile, a young female elephants remain a member of the group and act as an aunt caregivers in the group "kindergarten" or kindergartens. Old elephant will live alone because no longer able to follow the group
By nature, the elephant is doing exploration follow a certain path which remains within a year of exploration. In one night, the elephant is able to reach a distance of 7 km, even in the dry season or summer fruits in the forest can reach 15 miles per day. Speed of elephants walking and running in the woods (for short distances) and in the marsh beyond human speed in the same field.
During the crawl, a herd of elephants to communicate to maintain the integrity of the group using the soft sound vibrations generated from the base of the trunk. Today it was found that elephants also communicate through subsonic sound that can reach a distance of ± 5 km. This discovery has solved the mystery of coordination in a herd of elephants who are looking for food in long-distance and not seeing each other each other. Elephants are also able to swim across the river using the trunk as a "snorkel" or breathing tube.
As with other species of Asian elephant, Sumatran elephants sleep standing up. During sleep, his ears always dikipas-Fan. Sumatran elephants, having a wedding at the age of 10-12 years. And will give birth to a child four years with the period containing up to 22 months.
Currently Sumatran elephants are increasingly threatened the existence of which the population is steadily declining. Based on a survey conducted in 2007, the population of these animals live throughout the island of Sumatra 2400-2800 tail spread across seven provinces of Aceh, North Sumatra, Riau, Jambi, Bengkulu, South Sumatra and Lampung. Even since 2007 the species is believed to have disappeared from the National Park Bukit Twelve. In the IUCN red list book (The World Conservation Union), Sumatran elephants are listed as threatened with extinction (endangered), while the CITES (Convention on International Trade of Endangered Fauna and Flora / Fauna Convention on International Trade and Plant) categorize these animals in the group Appendix I. In Indonesia alone, since the year 1931 (Wild Animals Protection Ordunansi), this animal has been declared as protected species laws and endangered species so that its existence should be noted and preserved.
Reduced population of elephants in the wild because of poaching in addition, also due to the decreasing area of elephant habitat. Reduction in real elephant habitat is due to changes in the function of forests into large-scale monoculture plantations (oil palm, rubber, cocoa) which has been displacing habitat for Sumatran elephants. In addition it also has made an elephant stuck in small blocks of forest that is not enough to sustain life for long-term elephant, which on the other hand is also a trigger for conflict between humans and elephants.
It also occurs in the forest area register 40 which is one of the habitat for Sumatran elephants found in the district of Padang Lawas North Sumatra Province. Based on SRI survey results, obtained information from the public that in this region there are at least about 50 Sumatran elephants are divided into small groups. However, at this time due to the occurrence of illegal logging and forest functional changes to oil palm plantations led to the shrinking habitat of this area. This resulted in groups of Sumatran elephants often enter the area of oil palm plantations and damage young plants. Even in June 2009 occurred herd Sumatran elephants that destroy one unit houses around the area of oil palm plantations. This location is located in the Village District Sialiali Lubuk Barumun Padang Lawas District. SRI When reviewing the location, the team still found the remains of buildings that were damaged as well as plantations of young people who had eaten his young shoots / palm. Also found also dirt elephant still wet around the incident area.
References:
Department of Forestry. 2007. Strategy and Action Plan for Elephant Conservation in Sumatra and Borneo Elephant 2007-2017.
Sumatran elephants and the problem is. Volume XII No.1/Januari-Maret 2008. http://www.profauna.org/suarasatwa/id/2008/01/gajah_sumatera_dan_permasalahannya. html # population. Accessed on January 13, 2010.
Know Sumatran elephants. 2005. http://www.wwf.or.id/berita_fakta/berita_fakta/?5484/ Know-Elephant-Sumatra. Tnggal Accessed January 13, 2010.
The introduction of the Area Ecosystem Survey Barumun Kingdom. 2009. Survey Report BIOPALAS-USU and Sumatra Rainforest Institute (SRI).
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