|
Introduction
Current Asian elephant is the living proof of Elephas Linnaeus and many sorts of its fossil had been found. Current Asian elephant is the largest terrestrial mammal distributing in countries of South and Southeast Asia such as India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Burma, and Yunnan Province of South China. There had been discoveries of Elephas Linnaeus fossil records of the middle and late Pleistocene in North and South mainland China.
Like other sort of elephants, the male Asian elephant has a single "finger" on the upper lip of the trunk, a short, high skull and a double-bulged forehead. Asian elephants also have high crown molars with the chewing side of long oval shape, dense enamel and line structure. For centuries, people cultivated Asian elephants for hunting and transporting of goods and logs. In Southeast Asia, elephants also play an important role in both religious and cultural activities. In recent years, due to the man-made massacre and deforestation of tropic wood, the numbers of Asian plunges.
|
|