ASIAN ELEPHANT "Eric" Elephas maximus ©Laura Quick The Asian elephant is the largest living land animal in Asia. Since 1986, the Asian elephant has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, as the population has declined by at least 50 percent over the last three generations (roughly 60 years). It is primarily threatened by loss of habitat, habitat degradation, fragmentation and poaching. In 2003, the wild population was estimated at between 41,410 and 52,345 individuals. Female captive elephants have lived beyond 60 years. The distinctive trunk is an elongation of the nose and upper lip combined; the nostrils are at its tip, which has a one finger-like process. The trunk contains as many as 60,000 muscles, which consist of longitudinal and radiating sets. The longitudinals are mostly superficial and subdivided into anterior, lateral, and posterior. The deeper muscles are best seen as numerous distinct fasciculi in a cross-section of the trunk. The trunk is a multipurpose prehensile organ and highly sensitive, innervated by the maxillary division of the trigeminal nerve and by the facial nerve. The acute sense of smell uses both the trunk and Jacobson's organ. Elephants use their trunks for breathing, watering, feeding, touching, dusting, sound production and communication, washing, pinching, grasping, defense and offense. Tusks, which are primarily a male sex characteristic, serve to dig for water, salt, and rocks, to debark and uproot trees, as levers for maneuvering fallen trees and branches, for work, for display, for marking trees, as weapon for offence and defense, as trunk-rests, and as protection for the trunk. Elephants are known to be right or left tusked. They exhibit a wide variety of behaviours, including those associated with grief, learning, allomothering, mimicry, play, altruism, use of tools, compassion, cooperation, self-awareness, memory, and language. #asianelephant #elephasmaximus #©lauraquick #asia #endangered #intelligent #allomothering #tusks #eric #losangeleszooandbotanicalgardens #lazoo #glaza #losangeleszoo #proboscidea #elephantidae #elephas #southasia #southeastasia https://www.instagram.com/p/B8vAk45n8fV/?igshid=1q7mc7zhpdeg3