Baby Elephant

Female elephants are capable of giving birth approximately every 4-6 years, about 7 calves in a lifetime. Elephants live in matriarchal (mother headed) families .Newborns average 3 feet tall and about 250 pounds and are usually weaned between 2 to 4 years of age. A female calf will usually stay with the herd she was born into her entire life. A typical female will give birth every 3 to 6 years, allowing for about 7 offspring in her 50-year life span. When adult male elephants search for a female to breed with they produce musth fluid signaling females that they are ready to mate.

Human And Elephant

The homes of these elephants are being cleared for many reasons including warfare, agricultural development, human settlement, and logging.
Humans use elephants to log forests, transport heavy loads and carry tourists. Elephants can walk in areas where machines are unable to navigate. About 15,000 elephants are held in captivity as work animals.
Elephants are less prone to poaching (killing elephants for ivory tusks) because few males (and no females) grow tusks. The trunk is also used at one time in the manufacture of piano keys, billiard balls, and other objects, that hunters have slaughtered thousands of these magnificent animals.
Elephants are important in Asian folklore and religion. They are believed to be cousins of the clouds and able to cause lightening.