Ancient Sinhalese kings of Sri Lanka used captive elephants even to wage war.
Currently in Sri Lanka elephants are mostly used for ceremonial occasions while they are rarely used for hauling and heavy labour. elephants, colourfully decorated in elegant costumes, are a common sight in Buddhist festivals especially Peraheras (processions) held by Buddhist temples all around the island.
Among these grand festivals, the “Kandy Esala Perahera” is the most well known festival in which a large number of nicely adorned majestic elephants march along. The most magnificent tusker (usually the longest-tusked) carries the casket of the Sacred Tooth Relic with pride and dignity, an opportunity enjoyed by only a few tuskers in Sri Lanka.
This procession is annually held by the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic in Kandy since ancient times while it is the grandest and the most popular not only locally but internationally as well. Moreover, the elephant has today become part and parcel of Sri Lanka’s ecotourism.
The most unique feature of this animal is its tusks which give a sense of true majesty above other animals. The tusks are being used for various tasks. It is their incisor teeth that develop into tusks which grows up to about 6 feet throughout the animal’s life and elephants are usually right- or left-tusked as humans.
The Sri Lankan elephant’s tusk which is slimmer and lighter can weigh up to about 35kg. Of the Sri Lankan elephants, only the bull has long tusks, though many bulls have no tusks at all. Cows have short tusks usually hidden under their rashes. The only other teeth they have are four molars that are replaced seven times throughout their lives.
As the animal ages and the teeth are worn away with use, they are replaced from behind with the next set. If an elephant lives long enough to have used up all of its teeth, it then may starve to death. Anyway, of Sri Lankan elephants only a few bear tusks and the tusker population in Sri Lanka stands at less than 3% of the total population of elephants.
Nonetheless, Sri Lanka was once home the Asia’s longest-tusked elephant known as “Millangoda Raja” who carried the casket of the Sacred Tooth Relic in the Kandy Esala Perahera for about four decades until he died in 2011 at the age of 70 years.
This gigantic herbivorous mammal needs a large amount of habitat as they need enormous quantities of food and water to sustain their massive bodies, but unfortunately they are currently threatened primarily by the loss of habitat, in addition to habitat degradation and fragmentation.
Deforestation for human settlements and cropping, leads to the loss and increased fragmentation of the elephant habitat in Sri Lanka. Every year in Sri Lanka, nearly 120 wild elephants are killed by people in order to protect their crops and houses and also to hunt for ivory. However when elephants roam to settlements and are not often killed, in return about 65 people die annually after being attacked by elephants.
These numbers of deaths may be higher in certain years, with about 160 jumbos being reported to have been killed in 2006 alone. Besides, this human-elephant conflict is compounded by the elephant’s predilection for crops, such as sugarcane, bananas and other fruits grown by farmers. Even during the 19th and 20th centuries, elephants of this island had undergone very pathetic circumstances.
During the British rule, Sri Lanka lost a remarkable percentage of her elephant population; Major Thomas Rogers, famously known as “1400 & lost count”, had ruthlessly killed over 1400 elephants including more than 60 tuskers, at least one jumbo per day until he was killed by a stroke of lightning. In addition, during the same era, Major Thomas Skinner and Capt Galway had gunned down over 600 and 700 jumbos respectively for their sporting pleasure.
Meanwhile, in 2004 a rare albino elephant was for the first time spotted in Sri Lanka wandering in the Yala National Park, while this pale skinned jumbo was a member of a herd that comprised of about 17 elephants. The elephant has been sighted many times during the recent past. Albinism is a condition characterized by insufficient melanin production of the body. It is the melanin that gives colours to skin, hair and eyes. Albinism can be observed rarely among the animals, reptiles and birds due to various genetic reasons.
But anyway, according to the elephant census carried out in 2011 by the Wildlife Conservation Department, Sri Lanka is home to 5,879 elephants out of which 1,107 are babies and 122 are tuskers. However, centuries ago this island had been inhabited by oodles of elephants, but when we look at the current elephant population, we can understand the extent as to why they are endangered by today. Hence, conservation of these valuable animals is a sine qua non of time.
However, tourists who travel to Sri Lanka can have a memorable experience of these gigantic proboscideans of the island. They can enjoy watching, photographing and riding on elephants, in addition to going on elephant back safaris in national parks. Sri Lanka’s main national parks where tourists can watch Sri Lanka’s iconic giants of the wild include: Yala National Park, Minneriya National Park, Kaudulla National Park, Wasgamuwa National Park, Wilpattu National Park, Gal Oya National Park, Udawalawe National Park, and Lahugala Kitulana National Park. Minneriya, Kaudulla, Udawalawe and Yala National Parks are more popular for elephant back safaris.
The Elephant Transit Home at the Udawalawe National Park is also a fantastic place to watch elephants. Here, orphaned elephant babies are rehabilitated and then released back into the jungle after they become strong enough to survive in their natural habitat.
Yet another fantastic place to experience the earth’s biggest land mammals is the worldfamous Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage that cares for nearly 90 orphaned elephants, the world’s largest herd of captive elephants. Tourists have the opportunity not only to observe the entire herd bathing in the river but also to feed them with fruits and milk. The difference between the elephant transit home and elephant orphanage is that elephant orphanage does not release elephants back into the jungle whereas the transit home releases them.
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