TRAINING THE SUMATRAN ELEPHANT TO WORK

The training of an elephant differs from animal to animal. Depending on the will and spirit of the wild elephant, training can take as little as six months or as long as six years. In order for the trainer to gain respect from the elephant, the trainer must exert his dominance over it through beatings, starvation and deprivation of sleep and water. To restrain the elephant from being destructive and harmful, it is tied to the ground and held there until it is comfortable with the trainer's presence. To reward the Sumatran elephant after its long, hard training, a special song is sung and the elephant is patted on the head by his proud trainers. This ceremony marks the ending of its instruction and the beginning of its new career as a worker.

The elephant is mainly employed with felling trees and carrying them back to camp. Being a live bulldozer, they are able to carry logs weighing as much as six tons with dignity and grace. Sometimes an enormous bull elephant is tied to a tree and used to lure other elephants to captivity. Its superiority attracts them to him. Despite the elephant's size, it can still perform its duties with easy agility. Not only does the pachyderm move logs, but it also transports people to their destinations smoothly and efficiently.

Because elephants are such magnificant, easily trained animals, they are used in circus performances. These shows consist of make-believe hunts, soccer games, and many stunts. In Asia, superstition and tradition has always favored the elephant, where they are believed to have special powers. Many Asians believe that walking under an elephant brings good luck. In the Far East, elephants have always been considered sacred, holy animals. That is why their respecting admirers travel miles to see them. Of late, fate has looked poorly upon the elephants and extinction lurks nearer, but should they die out, they will long be remembered as adroit, graceful, regal animals.

All about Sumatran Elephant

I. Habitat

Elephant travels much within broad home range so that they need more than one type of habitat. Forest types suitable for Sumatran elephants based on research are:

1. Swamp forest
This forest type encompasses swamp grass land, primary swamp forest, or secondary swamp forest dominated by Gluta renghas, Campenosperma auriculata, C. Macrophylla, Alstonia spp, dan Eugeniaspp.

2. Peat Swamp Forest
Vegetation types in this forest type are: Gonystilus bancanus, Dyera costulata, Licuala spinosa, Shorea spp., Alstonia spp., and Eugenia spp.

3. Lowland forest
This forest type is located in the altitude of 0-750 m above sea level with dominant vegetation of Dipterocarpaceae family.

4. Lower mountain rain forest
This forest type is located in the altitude of 750-1,500 m above sea level with dominant vegetation of Altingia excelsa, Dipterocarpus spp., Shorea spp., Quercus spp., dan Castanopsis spp.
 

 II. Requirements to Live in Nature

1. Shelter 
Sumatran elephants are categorized as warm blooded animals thus in the hot weather condition, these animals will find shelter (thermal cover) to stabilize their body temperature to fit with the environment temperature. The locations usually used for shelter and rest at day light are the places covered with dense vegetation.

2. Diet
Sumatran Elephants are also categorized as herbivorous animals so that they need green food available sufficiently in their habitat. Elephants also need habitat with tree vegetation for their supplement in fulfilling the need for calcium mineral in order to strengthen their bone, teeth, and ivory. Since the digest system is less perfect, an adult elephant needs food in a big amount between 200-300 kg biomass per day or 5-10% of its body weight.

Sumatran elephant food types in natural habitat comprises of some kinds of wild herb, liana, tree bark, banana, and young leaves. If they invade paddy field or farming land, elephants will eat paddy, sugar cane, young coconut leaves, fruit such as papaya, and other seedlings.

3. Water 
Elephants are very much dependent to water thus in the afternoon they look for water sources for drinking, bathing and wallowing. A Sumatran elephant needs to drink about 20-50liter/day. When the water sources are dried, elephant can dig for 50-100 cm using his front feet and trunk in search of water.

4. Mineral 
Elephant also needs mineral salt such as: calcium, magnesium, and callium. These minerals are licked by consuming soil heap contained salt, loosing the hard slope by its front leg and trunks, and eating while raining or after raining.

5. Home range
Elephant is the biggest land mammal that still exist in this age thus it needs wide home range. The Asian Elephant home range is varied between 32.4 - 166.9 km2 meanwhile the home range of elephant herd in primary forest is twice bigger than that of in secondary forest. This condition is related to food productivity in these two different forest conditions.

6. Security and comfort
Elephant needs secured and comfortable situation so that breeding habit will not be disturbed and production process will work well. Therefore wood felling activities done by concession companies have disturbed security and comfort for elephants. 

Behavior of the Sumatran Elephant

Sumatran elephants are very social animals. They use infrasonic sounds to communicate with each other. Sumatran elephants roam around the jungle pushing over trees. As they walk they use their roaring and infrasonic sounds to communicate.

Elephants are very protective of their young. When they are being attacked by predators, the older elephants surround their young in the middle of a circle with the bulls on the outside. All of the females are protective of the young. These social pachyderms travel in large groups.

The elephants' strangest behavior involves actions toward their dead. When an elephant dies the others come around, sniffing and moving the bones. They do this as if they are trying to remember the dead elephant. This odd behavior is not yet fully understood.

Elephants are not very friendly zoo animals. There have been cases where they have killed people. Elephants are not easy animals to train. Sometimes elephants fight each other because they want to know who is the strongest and who will have first choice of the female.

Elephants are known to eat a great multitude of food. They eat anything but meat. They eat bananas, palm tree leaves, and almost any other plant. Because elephants have a tremendous appetite, much of Sumatra's jungles and crops are being trampled down.

Habit of sumatran elephant

A. Social Habit

A.1. Living in herd
In natural habitat, elephant lives in herd (gregarius). Living in group is a social habit that pays important role in protecting the herd members. Number of members in one herd is varied depending on weather and resources condition in the habitat in particular the availability of food and extent of home range. One group elephant comprises about 20-35 elephants or some say about 3-23 elephants

Each Sumatran Elephant herd is led by the biggest adult cow, while the adult bull only lives periodically for breeding with some cows in that group. Old bull will live in solitaire since he is unable to follow his group. Young bull, reaching his adolescence is pushed to leave the group or voluntarily join other bull group. Meanwhile, young cow keep staying in the group and acts as the "nanny" in the group.

A.2. Roaming
Naturaly elephants roam in group following permanent paricular paths within one year period of travel. Elephant home range can reach 7 km in one night, even it can reach 15 km per day in dry season or fruit season. Elephant's speed to walk and run in forest and in swamp exceed that of human being's in the same area. Elephant can also swim to cross deep river using their trunk as the snorkel gear or breathing pipe.

When roaming, elephant herd will communicate each other to keep the group integrity. Elephants communicate using soft sound produced by the vibration of its upper trunk. It has been discoverred recently that elephants can communicate through subsonic sound that can reach 5 km. This finding has unveiled the mystery of coordination of elephant herd in search of food in far split up distance while they don't see each other.

A.3. Breeding
Elephants do not have breeding season, they can breed along the year ,however breeding occurs more often when rainy season reaches its top frequence in the area. Bull often behaves outrageously called musht which is indicated by secretion of temporal gland which drips onto its cheek between eyes and ears in black color and with stimulating smell. This habit occurs 3-5 times within 1-4 weeks and is often related with lust periode, however strong evidences 
this matter are still not available.

 
B. Individual Habit

B.1. Eating habit
Elephant is terrestrial mammal which is active at day and night, however most of them are active from 2 hours before late afternoon till 2 hours before dawn to search for food. Elephants often search for food while walking at night for 16-18 hours per day. They are not thrifty toward food thus they tend to leave much food leftover if there is better food available.

B.2. Drinking 
When bathing in river, elephants drink with their mouth while when bathing in shallow river or swamp they suck the the water with their trunks. Elephants are able to suck water to 9 litter in once suck.

B.3. Wallowing
Elephant often wallows in the mud at day light and afternoon when it searches for food. Wallowing habit is important to protect their skin from extoparacyte insect bite besides for cooling down its body.

B.4. Mineral lick 
Elephant search for salt by licking things or other objects containing salt with its trunk. Elephants also often hurt themselves to brush their blood that contains salt.

B.5. Resting
Elephants sleep twice in a day; at midnight, and day light. At night, elephants often sleep by lying down their body to the side using pillow made from grasses. In exhausted condition, they will snore. Meanwhile, at day light elephants sleep while standing under shady trees.

THE SUMATRAN ELEPHANT

The Sumatran elephant's habitat is in Sumatra, Indonesia. The average male elephant reaches eight feet high and weighs up to six tons. A baby elephant can weigh up to one ton! The males are always larger than the females. They're bulky and gargantuan. They are massive creatures and docile when they are in the untamed world and even when they are domesticated.

Sumatran elephants have enough strength to knock down a tree. They can also pick up a log using just their trunk and their tusks. A baby elephant is called a calf; the females are called cows.

Elephants have a trunk, two tusks, two eyes, two ears and two lumps on their head. They are known to be clever animals. When an elephant is hot, they fan themselves by flapping their ears back and forth. When an elephant herd wants to move they use their ears as a guide. They can hear infrasonic sounds. Their hearing range is very large. Elephants hear some noises that can not be heard by a human ear.

Sumatran elephants are smaller than the African elephants and so these elephants also have smaller ears. Their eyes are always very watery. They have a very poor sight and depend on their well-developed ears and their sense of smell to aid them in times of need. Their trunk is their nose. They also use it like a hand.

Their trunk has over 40,000 muscles that enables them to move it. Their trunk is the most flexible body part that they have. Just below their trunk they have their tusks. Only male Sumatra elephants have tusks. Elephants are hunted for their tusks and people use it for ivory to make decorative structures.

We need to stop the poaching or else the population of elephants will dissapear at a rapid rate. Soon they will become extinct if we do not help protect them.

Reproduction and Life Cycle

Similar to other elephants, the bulls of Sumatran Elephants also engage in fighting for getting access to receptive or estrous females. Sexual maturity among bulls usually takes place between 12 and 15 years. Sexually mature bulls under the age of 20 often go through an annual phase of heightened sexual excitement known as ‘musth.’ During this period of musth, the testosterone level in their body increases to such extent that it makes the bull extremely aggressive. Secretions containing pheromones can then be seen discharging from the bull’s paired temporal glands located between their eye and ear.

The gestation period of all the subspecies of Asian Elephant, including the Sumatran Elephant, ranges from 18 to 22 months. The female Sumatran Elephants usually give birth to a single calf while twins are rare. The parturition lasts only for about 10 seconds and occurs at night. Similar to other herbivores, the infant of Sumatran Elephants becomes able to stand on its own within 10 – 30 minutes after birth. At the time of birth, the newborn calf weighs around 100 kg (220 lb).


The calf suckles for about 3 years and is weaned till 4 or 5 years of age. A female Sumatran Elephant with a calf does not breed until her first calf is completely weaned in order to make sure that her offspring is fully tended before it becomes semi-independent. The female calves usually stay with their mother’s herd for the rest of their lives, while male calves are chased away after attaining sexual maturity. Moreover, the female elephants of this species stop reproducing after the age of 60.

Protecting the Sumatran Rhino

t was a stiflingly hot and humid afternoon in the dense rainforests on the island of Sumatra when I saw something white. White is not a color you see much in the rainforest; it becomes highlighted against the dark green of the forest.

At first I did not know what it was, then I realized it was a skeleton. I became excited by what I may find, but as I got closer, the reality of the situation crystalized and my head started to spin. It was a full skeleton of a Sumatran rhino laying in a clearing along an animal trail. The vegetation had been flattened in a wide circle, the center of which was a solid branch dug deep into the ground with a thick wire snare dangling from it.

This critically endangered species had captured my imagination growing up a world away in England. I’d always dreamt of catching a glimpse of one—but not like this. This Sumatran rhino had been poached for its horn.

Changing paths
I had just turned 19. It was my second summer in Indonesia on what can only be described as my dream internship studying primates and tigers with Fauna & Flora International. I wanted to study animals in the rainforest, but the moment I saw the Sumatran rhino skeleton, I knew I had to change course and fight for the very survival of the species and places that intrigue and captivate me. I like to fight for species little known to the general public like the Sumatran rhino and the saola. The Sumatran rhino will always be at the pinnacle of my goals; I will do all I can to ensure it thrives in the wild once again.

I’ll be the first to admit that it’s an uphill battle. But it’s not an impossible one.

Protecting a species
I co-authored the most-recent scientific assessment of the current conservation responses to save the species. In brief, we are falling short. Given that there are only around 100 left in the wild, it is clear that the survival of the Sumatran rhino now lies entirely within the hands of the government of Indonesia. WWF and partners like the International Rhino Foundation, Rhino Foundation of Indonesia, and the Wildlife Conservation Society stand ready to assist in all ways possible.

The good news is that we know the key actions required to save the Sumatran rhino:

Consolidate all Sumatran rhinos into no more than three sites. This will allow the remaining animals to find each other and breed.Establish intensive protection zones in these three sites with strict regulations, patrolling infrastructure, increasing ranger presence and closely monitoring individual animals.Enhance the captive population so we have a viable population.Mange the entire population as one so animals will have to be moved between sites and to and from captivity to ensure genetic and population viability.

The plight of Sumatran rhinos needs global attention and commitments of conservation to succeed. Significant financial support for implementing the above priority actions are being provided by the US and German governments as well as the Disney Conservation Fund. More is needed. And nothing can be achieved without rapid decision making and the highest level of political blessing in Indonesia.

The science is telling us that we can’t put off mounting a serious, concerted effort to save Sumatran rhinos. We have pulled three species of rhino back from the brink so we know we can do the same for the Sumatran rhino. I’m going to do my best. And with your support, I know we can not only save the Sumatran rhino from the edge of extinction, but we can recover its numbers across Sumatra.