Borneo Pygmy elephant
by ellie serdenes
1. Habitat- the natural environment of an organism.
1.1. Dominant plants in the rainforest are very tall trees, mosses, ferns, and flowering plants.
1.2. Dominant wildlife in these rainforests, are birds, fish, insects, snakes, monkeys, amphibians and Sam,, and large mammals.
1.3. As its name suggests, the Borneo elephant is found exclusively on the island of Borneo in the Malaysian state of Sabah and parts of Indonesian Kalimantan. Much of the Borneo elephants natural habitat has been destroyed to make way for palm oil plantations and there are now thought to be less than 1,000 Borneo elephant individuals left in Sabah.
1.4. The Bornean Elephant is found in the Lower Kinabatangan floodplain in the state of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo and, occasionally, in the Indonesian state of East Kalimantan. Generally they are found in lowland forest, which in the Kinabatangan is seasonally inundated with floodwaters.
2. Abiotic factors- abiotic factors are non-living chemical and physical parts of the environment that affect living organisms and the functioning of ecosystems.
2.1. Weather
2.2. Climate
2.3. Amount of water
2.4. Sunlight
2.5. Precipitation
3. 2 predators and their food sources
3.1. Lions
3.2. Humans
3.3. Being on top of the food chain as means they do not face so much danger.
3.4. The main predator for the Borneo Pygmy elephant is humans. These elephants are endangered because hunters poach them for their ivory tusks. Even though it is illegal, people still poach these animals.
3.5. Due to their large size, Borneo elephants have very few predators within their natural environment. Besides human hunters, tigers are the primary predator of the Borneo elephant, although they tend to hunt the smaller Borneo elephant calves rather than the much larger and stronger adults.
4. behaviour
4.1. They are more gentle and affectionate when compared to other elephant subspecies. Their critical behavioral aspects are not yet known completely and researches are using different methods like fitting radio collars etc. to find out more about them. Elephants live happily by forming herds and they face depression and other psychological problems if they are kept alone.
4.2. They are tame and passive. They try to avoid human contact as much as possible but their habitat destruction is forcing them to come closer to humans. They form groups and live in harmony. Borneo Elephants are more active when compared to several other elephant subspecies. They love to roam around their natural habitat and their seasonal migrations patterns will help them in maintaining good body shape. On average, they walk close 25-30 miles per day. They are comparatively easy to train. Though their intelligence levels are low compared to other elephants, they are being used forhauling logs.In general; elephants are one of the most intelligent mammals on earth.
5. Safety
5.1. must have shaded area
5.2. elephants to be kept outdoors
5.3. accurate fencing
6. The pygmy elephants of Borneo have always been a mystery to science. As a gift to the Sultan of Sulu, many speculated that the animals were shipped from Sumatra or Java and set free on Borneo Island during the elephant trade from the 16th to 18th centuries. It was not until DNA testing took place that scientists realized that these animals were a separate wild population.
7. Female Borneo elephants are generally able to breed by the time they are 10 years old, and give birth to a single Borneo elephant calf after a 22 month gestation period. When the Borneo elephant calf is first born, it weighs about 100 kg, and is cared for not only by it's mother by also by other female Borneo elephants in the herd (known as aunties). The infant Borneo elephant remains with its mother until it is around 5 years old and gains its independence, with males often leaving the herd and female calves staying.
8. Today, the Borneo elephant is considered to be an animal that is in immediate danger of becoming extinct due to the fact that Borneo elephant populations have been declining at a critical rate. Borneo elephants are thought to be suffering primarily due to habitat loss in the form of deforestation and hunting for their ivory tusks by human poachers.
9. This creature becomes reproductive at the age of 10. On mating, they wait for about 20 weeks and give birth to off springs. After giving birth and start growing up, the female stays with its mother while the male breaks off.
10. Characteristics
10.1. The Borneo Pygmy Elephant is a very fascinating subspecies of the Asian Elephant, with their cute baby faces, big ears, plump bellies, little pachyderms and such long tails that they drag along the floor, they are quite obviously different physically and behaviourally different from all the elephants of mainland Asia. This elephant behaviours in a much more gentle and calm manner, much less aggressive than their Asian counterparts.
11. Threats
11.1. The main threat to the endangered elephant species is habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation of their habitats. These elephants live in rainforests where many, many trees are constantly being chopped down. Mammals of this sort of size require areas to find sufficient food however the loss of continuous forest makes this very hard. The forests that they lack are being invaded, logging, expanding agriculture, and palm oil plantations are reducing the forest area therefore it is having an affect on the sub-populations making it hard for them to have contact with each other, all of this also results in little to no space for some of the sub-populations of the species.
11.2. There are an estimated 1,000-1,600 individuals left and the largest population is found in the Lower Kinabatangan floodplain. Sadly, the increase in global demand for palm oil has resulted to a huge amount of human-elephant conflict and the elephants are now severely threatened by habitat loss as deforestation for oil palm plantations and logging continues to occur.
11.3. As in many tropical areas around the world, Borneo’s rainforests are being cut and degraded for timber, palm oil, pulp, rubber and minerals. The increase in these activities is being matched by a growth in illegal wildlife trade, as cleared forests provide easy access to more remote areas.
12. Biotic factors- A biotic factor is any living component that affects the population of another organism, or the environment.
12.1. Predators: being on top of the food chain means they don't face much dancer, however their main predators are lions and humans.
13. Food sources
13.1. The Pygmy elephants obtain energy by eating grasses, palm leaves, bananas, shoots, barks, fruits, Nuts and seeds
13.2. These elephants can eat up to 150kg of vegetation per day
13.3. They even eat bark and nuts to meet their nutritional requirements.
13.4. Their long trunk is extremely useful in gathering fruits, leaves, grasses etc.
13.5. They also need minerals which they obtain through salt licks.
13.6. Based on their food pattern, they come under herbivore category as they depend on plants for their food.
