About the elephants

The Sumatran elephant like the giant that has no power. Helpless against human malignancies. With a body the size of which reaches a height of 2.6 meters and a maximum total weight of 6 tons, menasbihkan Sumatran elephant as the largest land animals in Indonesia. Unfortunately, his size is still not able to match the human greed.

The Latin name of this animal is Elephas maximus sumatrensis and is one of the subspecies of the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus). Sumatran elephants since 1986, by the IUCN Red List as Critically Endangered status is labeled because the population is increasingly endangered.

Description of Physical and Behavioral Sumatran elephants

Sumatran elephants are the largest land animals in Indonesia. Height male elephants reach between 1.7 to 2.6 meters and weigh up to 6 tons. The ears are smaller than African elephants. The Sumatran elephant has five nails on the front foot and four nails on the hind legs.

Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatrensis) Average require foods that weigh up to 150 kg and 180 liters of water. To meet the needs of the meal, the giant Animals should be exploring the woods as far as 20 km2 per day. Elephant cruising range is what often leads to conflicts with humans.

Living in groups. In one group comprising between 3 and 20’s individual elephants. A herd of elephants in communication with the sound generated from the vibration of the base of its trunk. These sounds can be heard by other elephants up to a radius of 5 km.

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Like the species Elephas maximus (Asian elephant) Other, Sumatran elephants sleep standing and fanning the edges of the ears. Being able to detect the presence of water to a radius of 5 km. Sumatran elephants enter adulthood at the age of 10-12 years and have an average lifespan of 70 years. Pregnant female elephants in the 4th annual cycle with a 22-month gestation period. In pregnancy, the Sumatran elephant gave birth to only one baby elephant who will be with its mother until the age of three years.

Habitat, Population, and Sumatran Elephant Conservation

Sumatran elephants inhabit the island of Sumatra from Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, North Sumatra, Riau, Jambi, Bengkulu, South Sumatra and Lampung. With comprehensive travel area, this elephant using more than one type of forest habitats ranging from swamp forest and peat swamp forest, lowland forest, lower montane rain forest up.

Sumatran elephant population continues to shrink. Year 2007 is estimated at 2400 to 2800 individuals. This population continues to decline. The biggest threat to the Sumatran elephant population is shrinking habitat and killing of elephants.

The forest area as a habitat of elephants are being reduced as a result of deforestation, conversion of forest land into plantations and agricultural areas, and forest fires. Forests of Sumatra, the which is one of the world heritage sites in Indonesia, experiencing rapid deforestation. In addition to reducing elephant population, deforestation Also create human-elephant conflict between increasing.

The next threat is the killing of elephants. The killing of elephants is constituted by ivory poaching and land conflicts between elephants and humans. News about the Feud between humans and elephants roomates continues on elephant deaths, either Directly or poisoned, it is easy to find in the news in recent years.

As a result of a high threat to the conservation of the largest land animals in Indonesia, the IUCN Red List, set the status of conservation of the Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatrensis) as Critically Endangered or Critically. Pun CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (international trade convention for species of flora and wildlife), putting it in Appendix I.

In Indonesia, the Sumatran elephant is one of the animals that are protected by Law No. 5 of 1990 on Conservation of Natural Resources and Ecosystems and Government Regulation No. 7 of 1999 on Durability of Fauna and fauna

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