August 12 - World Elephant Day.
The holiday has been celebrated since 2012. Purpose of the event: to disseminate information on the need to protect and preserve African and Asian elephants. Elephants are the only surviving representatives of the oldest group of proboscideans that previously inhabited most of the land. Today they are the largest land mammals on the planet.
Tragically, these giants face numerous challenges such as poaching, habitat loss and abuse.
The first World Elephant Day celebration in 2012 saw the release of Sims and Clark's film “Return to the woods”, which focuses on the relocation of captive Asian elephants to their natural habitat in Thailand.
There are other days dedicated to these animals. Their goal is to draw public attention to the need to protect elephants, to illegal extermination, as well as to the problems of keeping animals in captivity.
Asian elephants are found in 13 states (there are less than 40 thousand of them in the world); African - in 37 countries. There are now about 300 thousand of them. And 100 years ago there were 5 million.
In 1989, by a UN decision, the international trade in ivory (tusks), which is used for jewelry and crafts, was completely banned. In many countries, killing an elephant is punishable by death.
And who is not yet familiar with our giants Shanti and Dinkar, we invite you on an excursion to Nikolaev Zoo.