Malaysian Elephants – Zoo Negara

Zoo Negara is home to three gentle giants, the Malaysian Elephants. Siti and Sibol (female) and Teriang (male) which originally come from Pahang, currently in their late twenties or early thirties. Although these elephants have long been retired from the elephants show, they are still three superstars in this zoo.

In my trip to Zoo Negara with my classmates on 28 June 2012, I have been asked to do an observation about one animal that I like and I choose elephant. This animal is the biggest animal that I've ever seen. Zoo Negara have 3 elephants which live in huge land and there are two females and one males. Visitors can get the information about any animal in this zoo from the information board that place in front of the animal's cage. What I get from the information board is this animal is the largest land mammals in the world. The height of their body is around 2.5 to 3.0m (at the shoulder) with length around 5.5 to 6.4 m. The weight for females elephants is 3000kg, while the males 5000kg. They also chain the elephants if the keeper is not in the vicinity of the enclosure, when the keeper is feed them to avoid them from fighting with each other, if the elephants on a medical treatment, and when necessary like if there is thunderstorm to keep off the elephants from jump out the guard rail. 

These elephants have a deeply lobed forehead with a prominent twin domed crown. Their eyes are small, because of the position and size of the head and neck. Their ears are smaller than the African elephants with large veins flows beneath the thin covering of skin. These three elephants never stop to move their ears and their tail. They like to interact with people, they will move their trunk straight to people who wants to give them food.

The elephant’s trunk is one of nature most amazing creations. It is made up of six major muscle groups, composed of over 100,000 individual muscle units. The trunk is dexterous and sensitive while at the same time being strong and powerful. An elephant uses its trunk for a multitude of purposes such as, it can lightly pluck a flower or pick up a coin or lift huge logs or elephant calves; it can be used for reaching high branches or rummaging low down on the dirt; it conveys food and water to the mouth and can fill it with huge volume of liquid, expelling it at great force; it is also used to make sounds such as trumpeting. In self-defense, the trunk is a highly formidable weapon that is capable of killing. Last but not least, the trunk houses a keen sense of smell, which is said to be more developed than any other land animal. A damaged trunk is a death sentence to an elephant. The trunk is highly sensitive and they are very careful to protect them, sleeping with trunks tucked up under their chins and will adopt the same position when threatened. Elephant tusks are developed upper incisors. They are used for digging, locating water, balancing large objects and in defense as a potentially lethal weapon. Malaysian elephants commonly have short and light tusks, but they can on occasion be long and slender. The females elephants may have short protrusions called tushes, these are rarely longer than 4 inches.

 Elephant skin is not thick skinned but very sensitive. The skin is heavily grooved, with a loose fitting appearance covered with coarse bristles. It is prone to irritation from insect bites and mites living within the skin folds. That’s why I saw the tail of the elephant is never stop moving to the body, and also the trunk of this elephant once I saw take the sands and frequently blow a covering the body as well to protect themselves from insect menace.. For this reason, regular bathing is vital to the good health of this animal.

               An elephant’s tail can be as long as 1.3m and is tipped by a series of very coarse, wire-like hairs. They have an extraordinary degree of control over tail movement and use them as a fly swat against insects. Their feet usually have 3 or 4 toenails, and the fact is that an elephant’s height at the shoulder is twice the circumference of his foot. Elephants are herbivores and enjoy a range of vegetation including grass, bamboo, a variety of tree and plant leaves, legumes, bark, roots and fruit. A mature adult has a prodigious appetite and requires between 200-300kg of food every day. An elephant's digestive system is not particularly efficient, digesting less than 50% of its food. A healthy adult can drink up to 60 gallons of water a day.

          
             From the video above we can see that the elephants is really active during day time, and they like to interact with other people. They will move their trunk straight to the visitor who give their hand. They like to show off and play with each other.