Asian Elephant

The Asian Elephant is smaller than the African Elephant with small ears and the head being the highest part of the body. Asian elephants have a single “finger” on the upper lip of the trunk, while African elephants have a second on the lower tip. Asian elephants keep their ears in constant motion in order to radiate the heat they generate, keeping them cool. They can be identified by their dark grey-brown color with patches of pink on their forehead, chest, ears, and base of their trunk. Their body height ranges from 550 to 640 cm and can weigh up to 5,000 kg.

The Asian elephant’s habitat type is Tropical and

Subtropical; dry and moist, Broadleaf Forests. Wild Asian elephant populations (25,600 -32,750 left) are threatened by extinction due to rapidly growing human populations cutting off their ancient migratory routes. They have been known to enter villages and raid their crops. Poaching for ivory, meat, and hides is still a widespread problem.

Elephas maximus

Click

Dale & Stella Craft own Rainbow Gifts-USA, an Elephant Dung Paper (EDP) wholesale distribution company based in California, USA. The products are from the elephants at the Thai Elephant Conservation Center near Lampang, Thailand. EDP creates an income for the low income keepers of the elephants, thus, helping to save the Asian Elephants. And EDP of Thailand puts a percentage of their profits straight back into the elephant conservation. Rainbow Gifts-USA donates part of its profits to funding a child of a mahout, a family involved in creating elephant dung paper.

From Thailand to California to Your Home….Now YOU can help Asian Elephants!

Shop: www.rainbowgifts-usa.com

When grasses are too short for the elephant’s trunk to pick up, they will scrape the ground with their forefoot until loose, and then sweep the pile into its mouth with its trunk. Also the record tusk measured 5’ along the curve with a girth of 16” at the jaw and weighed 104.5 lbs., sadly, killed by Sir V. Brooke.

Did you know??

Thai Elephant Conservation Center at Lampang, Thailand

From Thailand to the USA…..working together to save Elephants!

Displaying former logging techniques for tourists.

Painting to help pay for food programs.

Helping Elephants

The elephants of Thailand are in distress. As the last century continues to fade into memories, unfortunately, so does the economic need for elephants.

Doctors at the elephant hospital work to save the life of one of our precious patients.

100 years ago there were over 100, 000 domestic elephants in Thailand. Used as the heavy lifting equipment of the day, these elephants hauled the precious teak wood to sell to The West, they worked on the farm, hand in hand, with farmers to put food on plates, they helped build bridges, houses, railway lines and in Military service along side human soldiers helping to keep Thailand independent.

Sadly, the glory days of the elephant have gone. With the invention of better and better machines and the outlawing of logging in 1989, there has ceased to be an economic place for the thousands of elephants.

In the past, many owners were forced to beg for food with their elephants on the streets of major cities and a few elephants can still be seen on the streets of Bangkok today.

Estimates vary and experts disagree but there are roughly 6,000 elephants now in Thailand.

This elephant was involved in a traffic accident
– just one of the patients at the hospital at the Thai Elephant Conservation Center that our work helps.

Fortunately, there are many tourists that now visit Thailand and seeing elephants is near the top of their list of things to do. There are many tourist camps providing necessary jobs to elephants and their keepers.

Our paper contributes to securing the future of the Thai elephants. We are based at the Thai Elephant Conservation Center in Lampang which is in the north of the country.

We call it The Circle of Conservation