by Calley O'Neill and the Rama Team, Featuring Rama, the Artist Elephant
A JOURNEY OF ART AND SOUL FOR THE EARTH
Grazing elephants maintain the savannas and grasslands, preventing them from turning into forests. Elephants create water holes in dry riverbeds that in turn support a whole community of species. Elephants spread seeds. They make pathways that act as firebreaks and rainwater conduits, and their disturbance in the soil reveals amphibians, reptiles and insects for birds to eat.
In 1879, the Elephants Preservation Act was passed in India, protecting all elephants from harm, with the sole exception of a person’s self defense. This act honored the service that elephants have provided to humankind over many centuries. So it is not just other species that benefit from elephants, we have long been served by elephants’ power, energy and cooperation. Elephants actually respond favorably to agriculture, logging and bamboo harvesting if operated at a sustainable yield level with the early successional forest preserved. Thus, elephants are compatible with the long-term sustainable cultivation of forests.
In cultures around the world, elephants have long been charismatic animals, symbolic of wisdom, peace and power. Elephants are revered for their memory, high intelligence, sonic communication over great distances, and complex social and emotional behaviors, including grief, compassion, tolerance and social openness, altruism, and self-awareness. Really, elephants never forget.
Asian Elephants are at a high risk of extinction in the wild. Asian Elephants are in much more precarious situation than African elephants. The primary threats are: conflicts with humans, primarily in the rapid and severe loss of habitat from development, human population growth and the expansion of large-scale commercial agricultural operations, especially palm oil plantations, creating serious conflicts with farmers. The males are poached for their tusks.
Asian Elephants live in five Biodiversity Hotspots: Himalaya, Indo-Burma, Mountains of Southwest China, Sundaland, Western Ghats and Sri Lanka.
Speaking Passionately on Behalf of Those who Cannot Speak
ASIAN ELEPHANT (ELEPHAS MAXIMUS)
STATUS: IUCN Red List and US Federal List, Endangered - CITES l
Listed as endangered since 1996 due to population reduction of at least 50% over the last three generations (60 – 75 years) There is little accurate data on historical population size. Asian elephants population trends are decreasing due to poaching for the ivory trade and the most grave threat: ongoing habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation due to agriculture and deforestation, which causes human/elephant conflicts. Ancient migratory routes are cut off, causing risks of inbreeding. Elephants are protected internationally against poaching and trading and there are many conservation efforts under way.
This, the first Calley and Rama collaborative painting, depicts Rose, Rama’s sister. When Calley took the reference photograph, Rose was pregnant with the baby bull Samudra, yet no one knew it at the time.
The biggest, most powerful and one of the most charismatic animals on Earth, Asian Elephants stand 7 to 12 feet tall and weigh between 6,000 and 15,000 pounds, reaching their maximum size at about 25 years old. From trunk to tail, they can be 30 feet long. They achieve this by spending as much as 18 – 20 hours a day feeding. They are highly regarded as a keystone species, a species that plays a critical role in maintaining the structure of an ecological community. A keystone species’ contribution to the community is vital in maintaining the ecosystem’s health and balance.
Long live the elephants! Long live the elephants! Long live the elephants! Long live the elephants!
"Kulingana na Calley O'Neill na timu ya Rama, ""Rama, the Artist Elephant: A Journey of Art and Soul for the Earth"" inaonyesha kwamba tembo wanaotawala wanaendelea kuhifadhi savannah na nyasi, na hivyo kuzuia kutoweza kugeuka kuwa misitu." Tembo hutengeneza mashimo ya maji katika mitaro ya mito iliyokauka ambayo hutegemeza jamii nzima ya spishi. Tembo husambaza mbegu. Hizi hufanyiza njia ambazo hufanya kazi kama njia za kuzuia moto na mifereji ya maji ya mvua, na usumbufu wao katika udongo hufunua amfibia, wanyama wanaotambaa na wadudu kwa ndege kula. Mwaka 1879 sheria ya kuhifadhi tembo ilitolewa nchini India, na kuwalinda tembo wote kutokana na madhara, isipokuwa tu wakati wa kujilinda. Hatua hiyo ilitukuza utumishi ambao tembo wametoa kwa wanadamu kwa karne nyingi. Kwa hivyo sio spishi zingine tu zinazofurahia tembo, tumekuwa tukitumikia kwa muda mrefu na nguvu, nishati na ushirikiano wa tembo. Kwa kweli, tembo huitikia vizuri kilimo, kukata miti na kuvuna mianzi ikiwa inafanywa kwa kiwango cha mavuno endelevu na msitu wa mapema uliodumishwa. Kwa hiyo, tembo zinafaa kwa ajili ya kilimo cha misitu kwa muda mrefu. Katika tamaduni za ulimwengu, tembo wamekuwa wanyama wenye kuvutia kwa muda mrefu, ishara ya hekima, amani na nguvu. Tembo wanajulikana kwa kumbukumbu zao, akili ya juu, mawasiliano ya sauti kwa umbali mrefu, na tabia ngumu za kijamii na kihisia, pamoja na huzuni, huruma, uvumilivu na uwazi wa kijamii, kujitolea, na ufahamu wa kibinafsi. Kwa kweli, tembo hawasahau kamwe. Tembo wa Asia wako katika hatari kubwa ya kutoweka katika mazingira ya porini. Tembo wa Asia wako katika hali mbaya zaidi kuliko tembo wa Afrika. Hatari za msingi ni: migogoro na wanadamu, hasa katika upotezaji wa haraka na mkali wa makazi kutokana na maendeleo, ukuaji wa idadi ya watu na upanuzi wa shughuli kubwa za kilimo cha kibiashara, haswa mashamba ya mafuta ya mtende, na kuunda migogoro kubwa na wakulima. Wanaume hao huwindwa kwa sababu ya meno yao. Tembo wa Asia wanaishi katika maeneo matano ya kibiolojia: Himalaya, Indo-Burma, Milima ya Kusini Magharibi mwa China, Sundaland, Ghats Magharibi na Sri Lanka. "Kama ilivyoelezwa katika orodha ya IUCN ya ""Mnyama wa Asia (Elephant) "" na ""Mnyama wa Marekani wa Shirikisho (U.S. Federal List of Endangered Species) "" (CITES), idadi ya tembo wa Asia imepungua kwa asilimia 50 katika miaka ya 60 hadi 75 iliyopita." Idadi ya tembo wa Asia inazidi kupungua kwa sababu ya uwindaji haramu kwa ajili ya biashara ya pembe za ndovu na tishio kubwa zaidi: kupoteza mazingira, uharibifu na kugawanyika kwa sababu ya kilimo na ukataji misitu, ambayo husababisha migogoro kati ya binadamu na tembo. Njia za kale za uhamiaji zimekatwa, zikisababisha hatari ya uzazi wa karibu. Tembo wanalindwa kimataifa dhidi ya uwindaji haramu na biashara na kuna jitihada nyingi za kuhifadhi zinazofanywa. Hii, mchoro wa kwanza wa ushirikiano wa Calley na Rama, unaonyesha Rose, dada ya Rama. Wakati Calley alipochukua picha hiyo, Rose alikuwa mjamzito wa Samudra, lakini hakuna mtu aliyejua wakati huo. Elephant ni moja ya wanyama wenye nguvu zaidi duniani, na kwa urefu wa mita 7 hadi 12 na uzito wa kilo 6,000 hadi 15,000, hufikia ukubwa wao wa juu karibu miaka 25. Kutoka kwenye shina hadi mkia, inaweza kuwa na urefu wa mita 10. Kwa mfano, kwa kutumia muda wa saa 18 hadi 20 kwa siku, wanaweza kupata chakula. Wao ni aina ya kiungo muhimu katika kudumisha muundo wa jamii ya ikolojia. Mchango wa spishi ya msingi kwa jamii ni muhimu katika kudumisha afya na usawa wa mazingira. Maisha marefu kwa tembo! Maisha marefu kwa tembo! Maisha marefu kwa tembo! Maisha marefu kwa tembo!