Elephant Life
Elephant life is really quite remarkable, given the fact that all species and subspecies of the elephant are very social creatures, extremely intelligent, and as some believe, can be quite sensitive and even show emotion. Elephants can go day to day very often doing pretty much what they please, if for no other reason than because of their immense size, other animals are not going to get in turf battles with them.
Except when they are very young, the elephant has no real predators, and they will defend their young, who are somewhat vulnerable, against lions, hyenas and the like. Elephants form a very close knit community, with herds consisting of females, young males, and infants. A baby elephant seldom strays more than a few feet from its mother, even when it is several years old! If need be, other female elephants will watch out and care for an infant, but the mother is almost always nearby. A young male will stay with his mother until, at around the age of 12, he is forced out of the herd, and has to start a new life of his own.
Elephant life for a male can be rather trying, as it may be a dozen years or more before it can mate with a female. The females will spurn the young males in favor of older adult bulls, often 30 years of age or more. Young female elephants, cows, will usually remain with a herd until the herd gets too large, and splits into two or more smaller herds.
Elephants are herbivores, subsisting on various forms of vegetation, from leaves and grasses, to roots, fruit, seed pods and even tree bark. The elephant will eat almost anything that's remotely green in color, and when not eating, enjoys being near or in water. The elephant drinks by inhaling water into its trunk, and then squirting it back into its mouth. It will bathe by the same process, and swim or roll in mud to remove insects from its sensitive skin, and also to keep cool. Elephants can be very destructive at times. They will uproot a tree if necessary to get at its vegetation. Elephants can literally create a path of destruction when moving from one location to another, and this at times puts them at loggerheads with the human population, especially when valuable trees or crops are destroyed.
The African elephant has never been domesticated, though the larger of the two African species, the Savannah elephant, is the species most commonly seen in zoos. The elephant life of the Asian species in some instances includes being in the service of humans. The Asian elephant has for centuries been used for logging, transportation, and at times used in battle. It is the Asian species, normally the Indian subspecies, that you see in the circus.
Elephants have been know to mourn their dead, by covering a departed member of their herd with leaves and branches, and by keeping watch over the remains. The elephant has also been observed to welcome and celebrate a birth within their herd. And, we have all heard about the fact, which is true, that elephants seek out a special place when they know that death is near. Elephant life is a long life, about the same as for humans, and, for the elephant, it seems to be a pretty good life.