General Background Information
Elephants are the largest animals on the plant, the African male elephants, known as the bulls, can grow to be twelve feet tall and weigh as much as four tons. The average female elephants, the cows, are regularly a foot smaller than the bulls. As a result of the elephant's grand size, it has few enemies. However the baby elephants have some predators such as; lions and hyenas but because the mother is overprotective of their child, the baby elephants are not in grave danger. Elephants are calm animals and not considered to be violent, but they can become a threat when their children are threatened by natural predators. Though the elephant is strong, it is not strong enough to protect itself or it's family from humans.
These animals have had a important impact in human economies, religion, and culture. In Asia, elephants are served as beasts of burden in war and peace, and other civilizations have regarded elephants as Gods or royalty. In America and other countries elephants have been used for entertainment purposes such as; circuses, festivals, and their ivory have been used for fine jewelry and furniture.
Statistics
In the 1930s the elephant population was around 5-10 million, but in 1979 the population reduced to 1.3 million than by 1989, the elephants were added on the endangered animal species list with only about 600,000 elephants left in the world. Around the year 2000, the elephant population was estimated to be around 200,000 and right now, the year 2008-2009, the elephant population has lowered down to only 35,000-40,000
REASON FOR ENDANGERMENT
The reason why the elephant population keeps decreasing is because people are poaching them. Poaching is illegal hunting.
