Pregnant Sumatran Elephants: Never Take a Seat!

Sumatran elephants indeed captivate with their unique size and charming appearance. But there’s another interesting fact about this highly endangered mammal — Sumatran elephants have the longest pregnancy duration among mammals.

Female elephants can be pregnant for 22 months. This condition is highly precarious and often leads to miscarriages in female elephants. One astonishing case occurred in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam in 2017, where a 12-month-old Sumatran elephant fetus was found lying by officers from the Natural Resources Conservation Center.

As a result, researchers have conducted studies on the behavior of pregnant Sumatran elephants to try to reduce the miscarriage rate. The aim of this research is to understand the behavior of Sumatran elephants (Elephast Maximus Sumatranus) during pregnancy.

The study was conducted at the Elephant Training Center of Way Kambas National Park, from April to May 2019. Various behaviors were observed, including eating, drinking, walking, mud-bathing, resting, body rubbing, and aggressive behavior.

The research concludes that the behavior of pregnant Sumatran elephants (Elephas maximus sumatranus) includes eating (55.00%), mud-bathing (4.96%), walking (24.90%), sitting (0%), drinking (1.47%), aggressive behavior (0.14%), mud-gazing (0.12%), body rubbing (0.38%), and resting (2.82%). Pregnant elephants tend to engage in more eating activities compared to non-pregnant elephants. Meanwhile, non-pregnant elephants engage in more walking activities than pregnant ones. Other behaviors such as drinking, mud-bathing, resting, sitting, and other behaviors tend to be similar between pregnant and non-pregnant elephants.

Well, isn’t that interesting, Elephant Enthusiasts!

Source: waykambas