Dwarf elephant: this is what the islands do with the giants of the savannah and jungle (5 photos)

The dwarf elephants of Borneo Island in Indonesia are a big mystery for scientists. The population of "tiny" elephants was discovered only in the 19th century. How did they get here? Who are their relatives? Why are they so kind and small? Why are they dying out so quickly? All these questions are still unanswered.





You have been visited by the spirit of the forest. +100 to luck this week and next!

The Bornean elephant is now considered a subspecies of the Asian elephant. The strong ones weigh only 2-3 tons, while their continental relatives, the Indian elephants, gain from 3 to 5.5 tons of weight. This is the smallest subspecies of proboscideans.



Dirty and happy, the elephants scratch each other.

Wild dwarf elephants show minimal aggression towards humans, live on the edge of the island and do not go deep into it. And in the legends and stories of the local aborigines, there have never been any mentions of these animals. The aborigines do not even know what an elephant is.





Even a pygmy elephant enjoys beating up nettles with a stick!

These and other facts point to obvious human intervention. Presumably, about 300 years ago, someone for some reason released a herd of domesticated elephants into these areas. However, DNA data refutes this hypothesis and suggests that pygmy elephants are very different from other populations by about 300,000 years.



Oh, this typical Anapa beach...

In any case, the elephants are cool and kind. There are only 1,500 of them left, but for some reason they are not increasing in number, but are simply slowly dying out :(



A simple guy goes about his business, does not bother anyone.