Elephants and Humans

Relation Between Elephants and Humans

The relationship between humans and elephants has had its ups and downs. Some people are out to destroy them, thinking that hunting of these massive animals is the ultimate thrill. Others don’t care if they are extinct but in the mean time they will slaughter elephants in order to make money from the sell of their ivory tusks.

While for the most part humans and elephants work well together, that isn’t always the case. When we hear stories of these animals being violent we have to remember that they are wild animals. The fact that we have become used to seeing them around people doesn’t mean that as a whole they have become domesticated. The temperament of each one as well as the personality is very different.

In many areas of the world including Asia, elephants are working animals. They are well cared for though with days off in between to help them cope. Females don’t have to work once they are pregnant and there is always plenty of food for these animals. They have the job of moving heavy logs and other items in areas where there isn’t machinery to do it.

For the most part elephants react very well to humans. Yet the won’t tolerate being treated terribly. There are known attacks of humans by elephants that have been carefully calculated and planned out. Some of them have destroyed entire villages after their own herds were attacked by people. Zoo staff and circus trainers can be attacked too for not offering proper care to the elephants that they are responsible for.

What is interesting is that there aren’t cases of elephants attacking people without being provoked except when these animals have consumed alcohol. Research on this indicates that becoming intoxicated changes their moods and their thinking process as it does for humans. This can make elephants as erratically.

There are some heroic stories as well of elephants stepping in to help humans. It can be to protect them from animals including other elephants at times. They have been able to help them when natural disasters occur, moving heavy items to get to people and to rescue them. Most researchers aren’t surprised by these acts at all though. This is because they elephant is well known to being intelligent and capable of experiencing the same emotions as humans.

Humans are the only real predators of elephants. The fact that we continue to destroy the natural habitat where these animals live is upsetting. Thanks to the efforts of many conservation groups pressure is being placed on governments and on society to stop these changes. They are working to keep the remaining population of elephants alive and well out there in the wild. Only time will tell though if their efforts are enough to make it successful or not.

However, the management of elephant populations in the wild isn’t an easy task to accomplish by any means. In some locations the efforts don’t go anywhere as they are fighting against other groups that want to save gorillas in the same area. There isn’t enough food for both to remain there so one of them has to be relocated or they will likely die out. Humans are intervening and making such decisions instead of letting nature balance it all out.

Effective policies have to be put in place for management as well. Buying enough land for them to be able to move around and to survive out there is important. Management efforts have to be carefully in place too so that there aren’t too many elephants trying to live in the same place and to compete for the same food sources.