Gajah asia: Perbedaan antara revisi

| image_caption = Bong Su, seekor gajah asia jantan di Kebun Binatang Melbourne

| regnumgenus = [[Animalia]]Elephas

'''Gajah asia''' ('''''Elephas maximus'''''), kadang dikenal dengan nama salah satu subspesiesnya, [[gajah india]], adalah satu dari tiga [[spesies]] gajah yang masih hidup, dan merupakan satu-satunya spesies gajah dari genus ''[[Elephas]]'' yang masih hidup. Hewan ini adalah hewan darat terbesat di [[Asia]].<ref name="Shoshani82">{{cite journal |author=Shoshani, J, Eisenberg, J. F. |year=1982 |title=Elephas maximus |journal=Mammalian Species |volume=182 |pages=1–8 |url=http://www.science.smith.edu/msi/pdf/i0076-3519-182-01-0001.pdf |jstor=3504045 |doi=10.2307/3504045 |access-date=2013-05-19 |archive-date=2015-09-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924121940/http://www.science.smith.edu/msi/pdf/i0076-3519-182-01-0001.pdf |dead-url=yes }}</ref> Gajah Asia adalah [[spesies terancam]] karena habitat yang terus berkurang dan perburuan liar,<ref>Cynthia Turnage and Mark McGinley. 2010. [http://www.eoearth.org/article/Asian_elephant ''Asian Elephant''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130523164151/http://www.eoearth.org/article/Asian_elephant |date=2013-05-23 }}. Encyclopedia of Earth. C. Michael Hogan, Topic editor. eds. Cutler J. Cleveland. National Council for Science and the Environment, Washington DC</ref> populasi gajah di alam liar tersisa antara 41,410 sampai 52,345.<ref name=iucn/> Gajah asia cenderung berumur panjang, dengan usia tertua yang diketahui mencapai 86 tahun.

Gajah asia menghuni kawasan padang rumput, hutan hijau tropis, hutan semi-hijau, [[hutan gugur]] lembablembap, hutan gugur kering dan hutan berduri kering. Selain itu mereka juga biasa hidup di hutan tanaman, hutan sekunder dan semak belukar. Beberapa dari tipe habitat gajah ini bisa mencapai ketinggian {{convert|3000|m|ft|abbr=on}} di atas permukaan laut.

* [[Gajah sumatera]] yang terdapat di [[SumateraSumatra]] dan [[Kalimantan (pulau)|Kalimantan]].

Di China, gajah asia hanya terdapat di prefektur [[Xishuangbanna]], [[Distrik Simao|Simao]], dan [[Lincang]] di selatan [[Yunnan]]. Di Bangladesh, hanya terdapat sebagian populasi gajah yang terpencil di [[Bukit Chittagong]].<ref name="sukumar93">Sukumar, R. (1993) [http://books.google.com/books?id=95MoRwdQlcYC&printsec=frontcover&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=true ''The Asian Elephant: Ecology and Management''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230728040954/https://books.google.com/books?id=95MoRwdQlcYC&printsec=frontcover&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=true|date=2023-07-28}} Second edition. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-43758-X</ref>

== Ekologi dan perilaku ==

[[FileBerkas:Baby elephants at the Elephant Conservation Center (Laos).jpg|thumbjmpl|leftkiri|Seekor anak gajah (5 bulan) dan sepupunya (17 bulan) di sebuah suaka di Laos]]

Gajah merupakan hewan [[krepuskular]].<ref name="Shoshani82"/> Mereka dikelompokkan sebagai [[megafauna]] dan mengkonsumsi sekitar {{convert|150|kg|lb|abbr=on}} pakan tanaman per hari.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Samansiri |first=K. A. P. |last2=Weerakoon |first2=D. K. |year=2007 |url=http://www.asesg.org/PDFfiles/Gajah/27-27-Samansiri.pdf |title=Feeding Behaviour of Asian Elephants in the Northwestern Region of Sri Lanka |journal=Gajah: Journal of the IUCN/SSC Asian Elephant Specialist Group |volume=2 |issue= |pages=27–34 |doi= |access-date=2013-05-19 |archive-date=2016-11-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161118170121/http://www.asesg.org/PDFfiles/Gajah/27-27-Samansiri.pdf |dead-url=no }}</ref> Mereka adalah pemakan segala tumbuhan; pemakan rumput (''grazer'') dan juga pemakan pohon (''browser'') sekaligus. Tercatat 112 spesies tanaman yang berbeda menjadi santapan hewan ini. Kebanyakan tumbuhan dari bangsa [[Malvales]], suku [[Leguminosae|polong-polongan]], [[Palmae|pinang-pinangan]], [[Cyperaceae|teki-tekian]] dan [[Graminae|padi-padian]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Sukumar |first=R. |year=1990 |url=http://www.asiannature.org/pdf_resources/JournalofTropicalEcologyB1989.pdf |title=Ecology of the Asian Elephant in southern India. II. Feeding habits and crop raiding patterns |journal=Journal of Tropical Ecology |volume=6 |issue= |pages=33–53 |doi= |access-date=2013-05-19 |archive-date=2007-10-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012123045/http://www.asiannature.org/pdf_resources/JournalofTropicalEcologyB1989.pdf |dead-url=yes }}</ref> Mereka memakan pohon (''browsing'') lebih banyak pada musim kemarau, dengan kulit pohon menjadi porsi utama.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Pradhan |first=N. M. B. |last2=Wegge |first2=P. |last3=Moe |first3=S. R. |last4=Shrestha |first4=A. K. |year=2008 |title=Feeding ecology of two endangered sympatric megaherbivores: Asian elephant Elephas maximus and greater one-horned rhinoceros Rhinoceros unicornis in lowland Nepal |journal=Wildlife Biology |volume=14 |issue= |pages=147–154 |doi= }}</ref> Mereka minum setidaknya sekali sehari dan tidak pernah tinggal jauh dari sumber air murni.<ref name="Shoshani82"/> Mereka membutuhkan 80–200 liter air dalam satu hari.

Gajah mampu mengenal suara dengan amplitudo rendah.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Heffner |first=R. |last2=Heffner |first2=H. |year=1980 |title=Hearing in the elephant (''Elephas maximus'') |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |volume=208 |issue=4443 |pages=518–520 |doi=10.1126/science.7367876 }}</ref> Mereka menggunakan [[infrasonik]] unutk berkomunikasi satu sama lain; hal ini pertama kali diketahui dan dicatat oleh naturalis asal India, [[Madhaviah Krishnan]], yang dipelajari lebih lanjut oleh [[Katharine Payne]] kemudian.<ref>{{cite book |author=Payne, K. |year=1998 |title=Silent Thunder |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9706848010867|publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=0-684-80108-6}}</ref>

Pemangsaan [[Harimau benggala|harimau]] terhadap gajah Asia jarang terjadi dan hanya terbatas pada anak gajah yang masih kecil.<ref>Karanth, K. U. and Nichols, J. D. (1998). [http://repository.ias.ac.in/89442/1/3-P.pdf ''Estimation of tiger densities in India using photographic captures and recaptures''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170809055944/http://repository.ias.ac.in/89442/1/3-P.pdf |date=2017-08-09 }}. Ecology, 79 (8): 2852–2862.</ref>

* {{en}} [http://www.elephantnaturefoundation.org/ Elephant Nature Foundation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170920124906/http://elephantnaturefoundation.org/ |date=2017-09-20 }}

* {{en}} [http://www.asianelephant.net/ Asian Elephants at the Zoological Gardens of the World] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190831140120/http://www.asianelephant.net/ |date=2019-08-31 }}

* {{en}} [http://panda.org/elephants/asian WWF - Asian elephant species profile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230728041010/https://wwf.panda.org/discover/knowledge_hub/endangered_species/elephants/asian_elephants/ |date=2023-07-28 }}

* {{en}} [http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/AsianElephants/ National Zoo Facts on Asian Elephant and a Webcam of the Asian Elephant exhibit] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080213040801/http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/AsianElephants/ |date=2008-02-13 }}

* {{en}} [http://www.chaffeezoo.org/animals/elephant.html The Chaffee Zoo Asian Elephant Fact Sheet] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060223213334/http://www.chaffeezoo.org/animals/elephant.html |date=2006-02-23 }}

* {{en}} [http://ecos.fws.gov/species_profile/servlet/gov.doi.species_profile.servlets.SpeciesProfile?spcode=A059 U.S. Fish & Wildlife Species Profile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061121105712/http://ecos.fws.gov/species_profile/servlet/gov.doi.species_profile.servlets.SpeciesProfile?spcode=A059 |date=2006-11-21 }}

* {{en}} [http://www.eia-international.org/ EIA 25 yrs investigating the ivory trade, reports etc] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211130173727/http://elefantasia.org/ |date=2021-11-30 }}

* {{en}} [http://www.eia-global.org/ EIA (in the USA) reports etc] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200423020747/https://eia-global.org/ |date=2020-04-23 }}