Dear Friends,

We have adopted an African Elephant in the Toronto Zoo and called it "Buku."
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Here is a brief history of African elephants.

Elephants are endangered animals. Destruction of forest habitat due to human encroachement and the conversion to farmlands, as well as unregulated and/or illegal trade in ivory are serious threats to their survival.

The elephant is the largest living terrestial animal. In general males weigh between 4,400-5,500 kg and measure approximately 2.95-3.6m at the shoulder.The females which are smaller, weigh about 2,230-3,470, and measure 2.25-2.65m at the shoulder.

The elephant prefers the edge between grassland and forest, especially near rivers; also found in deep forests, open savannas, wet marshes, thornbush, and semi-dfesert scrub.

They are entirely vegeterian. Their diet consists of grass, tree foliage, twigs, herbs, shrubs, roots and fruit.

The elephant's head is huge and sits on a short neck. The ears are large and fan shaped. They have thick pillar like legs; with three toes on the hind legs and four toes on the forefeet.
Their color is a brownish grey and their skin is creased and folded. The most conspicuous external feature of the elephant is the trunk, which is flexible and muscular. The trunk is a great elongation of the nose.The trunk serves a multitude of purposes; it is used for breathing, pulling up vegetation,drinking, throwing dust, squirting water, vocalizations and as a snorkel as well as an organ of touch, smell and communication. Elephants have six complete sets of molars, and one incisor tooth on each side of the upper jaw is greatly develpoed to form a tusk composed of ivory. The tusks grow continuously throughout life.

Elephants are social animals and usually travel in herds ,made up of females and their calves led by an older female or the matriarch. As they mature, young males are driven out of the clan at puberty, 8-20 years old, forming their separate all-male troops. Elephants have been found in herds of several hundred, although about twenty individuals is more common.

Breeding happens any time during the year. Newborns weigh between 100-120 kg. It is able to stand within 15-30 minutes and will follow its mother back to the family unit. Growth is throughout life over a potential span of 60 to 70 years.

The African elephants are found in Kenya, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Uganda and Zaire.

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This is BUKU

I am so happy to see Buku on Givnology before I go to the Philippines.

Merry Christmas Buku

Vicky

Welcome to Buku in our hearts! That’s a beautiful gesture dear Inda. And thank you for sharing this interesting information.
Love, Margherita

Hello Buku!
Nice to meet you.

Sue

I am excited about this! Please give us all facts about Buku: Date of Birth, parents, siblings.....

Love,
Lilie

Wow this is amazing news dear Inda!

I don't know if Buku qualifies, but I included this information in a post at CUTEFAMILYPETS.COM (click to go there), he he.. Also Laikali, so they won't be jealous of each other! he he..

How merry this all is eh? Mmmm.. heartwarming. I just love cute little pets.. To the Jolly Green Giant at least Buku is little.. and cute! I wonder what you'd need to scritch under the chin, a gardening fork? he he..

Thanks for the great info about elephants! How magical!?! (good we have the elephant smiley!)

But then again.. he he.. we can also be mean and nasty to the elephants...



And this reminds me of an elephant joke I definitely can't tell..

Elephant stompin' good holidays to all, Teo

Teo's presents: Givnology forums, tradigital music, Third Millennium Thinking, new media

When we appreciate our diversity we have abundance

Thank you Everyone

We enjoy our cute family pet

It bis a male, about 15 years old, but we have to go and see him to get the rest of the information. The roads here are snow covered and icy ,and the zoo is far from the city, so we have to postpone our visit in person for a while.

We need to watch out that Buku does not meet his nasty opponent

And we do have to get up on a ladder and use the rake to give him a little scratch

Best regards to Everyone from Buku

PS. Teo! Now that we know you have an elephant joke, you better tell...

[This message was edited by Inda on Wednesday December 17th, 2003 at 06:06 PM.]

Oh,Oh...now look who is sitting on Buku's hat

Buku's enemy looks really dangerous.
I think we need to protect Buku

Vicky

Have you heard about the elephant with diarrhea?

It's all over town!

Teo would not tell a joke like that.

May it all work. Wow it does! Amen.

Dear Inda,
How is Buku doing?
Love,
Angela

Dear Angela,
We are visiting Buku on April 16th, then we will have an update.

Love, Inda

Ooooh! I can't wait to see little (?????) Buku!



he he he

Love n light, Teo

We still have our elephant. We keep renewing our adoption every year. Soon it is time to visit Buku.
The weather is getting nice and the elephants can roam around the zoo grounds into much larger territories than in the winter.

Love,
Vicky



Coming to visit you soon