FACTS ON THAI ELEPHANTS
• The elephant is the largest land mammal on our planet
• They are secretive and shy and like to keep their distance from other animals
• Elephants especially hate dogs and horses and generally prefer their own company
• Most of their day is spent eating; they consume 150-300 kg of jungle fodder per day
• They enjoy bamboo shoots, grass and all sorts of greens
• They Drink about 150 litres of water daily
• Only four hours are needed to sleep each night
• Elephants only lie down to sleep when they are sick
• At the start of this century there was over 100,000 elephants in Siam (Thailand)
• There are now only 3,000-4,000 alive in Thailand among a global population that has been estimated as low as 30,000
• Numbers of elephants are declining mainly due to hunting and human population growth
• There are two different species of elephant – the African (Loxodonta africana) and the Asian variety (Elephas maximus)
• The Asian Elephant is officially an endangered species
• Favoured foods include: Bananas, bamboo, berries, mangoes, coconuts, corn, jungle shrubs, palm fruits, sugar cane, wood apples and rice
• They are secretive and shy and like to keep their distance from other animals
• Elephants especially hate dogs and horses and generally prefer their own company
• Most of their day is spent eating; they consume 150-300 kg of jungle fodder per day
• They enjoy bamboo shoots, grass and all sorts of greens
• They Drink about 150 litres of water daily
• Only four hours are needed to sleep each night
• Elephants only lie down to sleep when they are sick
• At the start of this century there was over 100,000 elephants in Siam (Thailand)
• There are now only 3,000-4,000 alive in Thailand among a global population that has been estimated as low as 30,000
• Numbers of elephants are declining mainly due to hunting and human population growth
• There are two different species of elephant – the African (Loxodonta africana) and the Asian variety (Elephas maximus)
• The Asian Elephant is officially an endangered species
• Favoured foods include: Bananas, bamboo, berries, mangoes, coconuts, corn, jungle shrubs, palm fruits, sugar cane, wood apples and rice