LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Elephant: Asian Elephant
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The African Elephant is the largest living land animal (larger than the Asian Elephant). These mammals have very strong social bonds and live in family groups headed by a female (called a cow). Males (called bulls) occasionally join the group. Elephants are excellent swimmers. Elephants have few natural enemies except man, and they are in danger of extinction due to loss of habitat and poaching (they are killed for their ivory tusks).
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[One] subspecies, the Indian Elephant (Elephas maximus indicus) makes up the bulk of the Asian elephant population. Numbering approximately 36,000, these elephants are lighter grey in colour, with depigmentation only on the ears and trunk. Large males will ordinarily weigh only about 5,000 kg (11,000 lb) but are as tall as the Sri Lankan. The mainland Asian can be found in 11 Asian countries, from India to Indonesia. They prefer forested areas and transitional zones, between forests and grasslands, where greater food variety is available.
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The first Asian elephant conceived through artificial insemination died at a zoo Wednesday of a viral infection that caused his tongue to turn purple and his head to swell. Haji was born in 1999 after years of research on the elephant reproductive system and failed attempts at artificial insemination. Sperm was taken from Onyx, an Asian elephant that sired 12 calves before dying in May. Haji's mother, Moola, remains at the zoo. The nearly 3-year-old calf, had been in failing health at the Dickerson Park Zoo since Saturday.
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The elephant's trunk is another unique and important feature. It is used not only for drinking and bathing but for smelling, breathing, feeling, and grasping food. At the end of the trunk is a sensitive "finger" for grasping things as small as a berry or as large as a branch. African elephants have two fingers while the Asian has only one. They ... use their trunk as a snorkel when crossing deep rivers. Baby elephants are not born knowing how to use their trunk -- they must learn.
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Even the little ones are quite large, as anyone who has seen the Houston Zoo’s new baby elephant-Mac-can tell you. And if someone jokes that you can hear an elephant coming from a mile away, tell them that’s just a tall tale. Amazingly, despite their weight, Asian elephants are able to walk quite softly. How? Because their feet are fitted with large, soft pads, kind of like sneakers. Asian elephants actually have to walk on their tiptoes!
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The large flapping ears of an elephant are ... very important for temperature regulation. Elephant ears are made of a very thin layer of skin stretched over cartilage and a rich network of blood vessels. On hot days, elephants will flap their ears constantly, creating a slight breeze. This breeze cools the surface blood vessels, and then the cooler blood gets circulated to the rest of the animal's body. The hot blood entering the ears can be cooled as much as ten degrees Fahrenheit before returning to the body. Differences in the ear sizes of African and Asian elephants can be explained, in part, by their geographical distribution.
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Asian Elephant