Wildlife Tour of Indian Elephant

Elephant in India has exudes the limit of mere an animals. It is part of historical royal legacy, religious and mythological importance, and of course an important ingredient of our age old cultures. It is fully protected, most revered and well treated animal in India. Mythologically, Indians believe that it is one of those nine jewels which were recovered after the churning of sea by Gods and the demons. Elephants has been the prime means of transportation of kings and royals. They took battles and royal procession riding on the back of its animals. Elephants in India has a cultural and religious bonds with the masses.


Scientific Classification

Kingdom: Animalia Class: Mammalia Family: Elephantidae Species: E. maximus Phylum: Chordata

Order: Proboscidea Genus: Elephas Subspecies: E. m. indicus Latin Name: India Elephas Local Names: Hasti & Gaja (Sanskrit), Haathi & Haathini (Hindi), Anali (Tamil & Kannada), Ana (Malayalam)

Physical Traits
The Wildlife Tour of Indian Elephant has very distinctive physical features. An average Indian male elephant weigh up to 6 tons (5,400 kg) and females about 4 tons (3,600 kg). They are up to 6.4 m (21 feet) long. Only male elephants possess tusks (large, pointed ivory teeth) and almost hairless, wrinkled, gray-brown skin. They have They have large size of ears and use them for air themselves in extreme heat. A long trunk on the front is the most distinctive feature of elephant. It has two nostrils at the end of their trunk and use it to breathe, scoop or grasping about any thing. It take waters in the trunk and showers over his back taking a romantic bath.


Habitat & Diet
Wildlife Tour of Indian Elephant is very nomadic in nature. It moves from one place to another place. The most important place they prefer to live in, include thick forests with an abundant supply of food and a large amount of shade, muddy areas in days of summer, scrub-forested areas and open space and grass lands.
Wildlife Tour of Indian Elephant requires to consume around 330 to 350 pounds of food each day and drink 22 to 30 gallons of water. For huge consumption, they do not depend one kind of food but take diverse kind of food. Usually their diet include grasses, bamboo, legumes, bark, succulent climbers, creepers, palms etc. Their seasonal favorites are such as fig leaves and fruits, tamarind, wood apple and mango.


Spotting the Indian Elephant
Elephant is the most revered animal in India. Because of its religious importance and government protection, it is abundantly found in every part of the country. Western Ghat in South India, Assam and Orissa in north India are the most popular sites to spot this largest mammals on the surface of earth. Some popular wildlife sanctuaries which have large number of elephants are as following.

• Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary
• Kaziranga National Park (Assam)
• Manas Tiger Reserve (Assam)
• Dudhwa National Park (Uttar Pradesh)
• Kanha National Park (Madhya Pradesh)
• Bandhavgarh National Park (Madhya Pradesh)
• Jim Corbett National Park (Uttaranchal)
• Mudumalai National Park (Tamilnadu)