Elephants as Ecosystem Engineers

I requested a quote from my new friend Ian Redmond, Ambassador, UNEP Convention on Migratory Species, on the occasion of World Elephant Day. Ian  is also Chairman, Ape Alliance-(www.twitter.com/4apes ) and Chairman, The Gorilla Organization  (www.gorillas.org) . No one understands elephants’ multi-dimensional contributions to ecology of our planet better than Ian. All his elephantine knowledge comes from his close observations by living with elephants right in their habitat. I heard him speaking number of times not only on elephants  size and their appetite but their never heard characteristics : like how big ears of elephants help in controlling their body temperatures and their mind boggling emotions including their anger, friendship and sad feeling for loss of their colleague. He wrote to me last night ( of 11th August 2020 ) 

 Quote

 “ Elephants, because of their size, appetite and migratory habits, disperse more seeds of more species further than any other animal. They have been described as ecosystem engineers and mega- #GardenersoftheForest. They prune branches as they feed, fertilise the soils of Africa and Asia with their dung (about 1 tonne per week per elephant) and so maintain the health of globally important forests and savannah-woodlands. Thus we must Protect the #GardenersoftheForest today so we have more #trees tomorrow to prevent dangerous #ClimateChange.”

Unquote

Can one imagine that elephants help in mitigating Climate Change by dispersing the seeds through their large dung? Research on wild animals emerge from the passionate study like what Ian has accomplished. No wonder he has been UNEP’s Ambassador for more than a decade now. 

Happy World Elephant Day !

Read detailed article: https://rajendrashende.com/articles/elephants-as-ecosystem-engineers/