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TRAINING THE SUMATRAN ELEPHANT TO WORK
By Ashley Willis and Karen Kaczorowski
of the International School of Lhokseumawe

The training of an elephant differs from animal to animal. Depending on the will and spirit of the wild elephant, training can take as little as six months or as long as six years. In order for the trainer to gain respect from the elephant, the trainer must exert his dominance over it through beatings, starvation and deprivation of sleep and water.
To restrain the elephant from being destructive and harmful, it is tied to the ground and held there until it is comfortable with the trainer's presence.
To reward the Sumatran elephant after its long, hard training, a special song is sung and the elephant is patted on the head by his proud trainers.
This ceremony marks the ending of its instruction and the beginning of its new career as a worker.
The elephant is mainly employed with felling trees and carrying them back to camp. Being a live bulldozer, they are able to carry logs weighing as much as six tons with dignity and grace.
Sometimes an enormous bull elephant is tied to a tree and used to lure other elephants to captivity.
Its superiority attracts them to him. Despite the elephant's size, it can still perform its duties with easy agility.
Not only does the pachyderm move logs, but it also transports people to their destinations smoothly and efficiently.
Because elephants are such magnificant, easily trained animals, they are used in circus performances. These shows consist of make-believe hunts, soccer games, and many stunts.
In Asia, superstition and tradition has always favored the elephant, where they are believed to have special powers. Many Asians believe that walking under an elephant brings good luck.
In the Far East, elephants have always been considered sacred, holy animals. That is why their respecting admirers travel miles to see them.
Of late, fate has looked poorly upon the elephants and extinction lurks nearer, but should they die out, they will long be remembered as adroit, graceful, regal animals.

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From Heather of Delmar Elementary School, Maryland

1. How many times does the Sumatran Elephant eat a day?
2. Each time they eat how long do they eat before taking a break?
3. How long do they sleep?
4. How many hours of sleep do they need?
5. How come the elephant doesn't eat meat?
6. At the zoo have elephants ever knocked down their cages and escaped?
7. How come the elephants move the bones of dead elephants?
8. What are the lumps for on the elephant's head?
Are they just part of the elephant?
I wish we had big ears to fan ourselves when we are hot.
9. How many muscles do elephants have all together? (the Sumatran Elephant).
10. What things beside the circus do they train elephants for?
11. If the elephant is tied to the ground could the elephant break loose?
I mean aren't they strong animals?
12. If you walked under an elephant wouldn't it kick you?

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From Kathryn of Delmar Elementary School, Maryland

13. Why do they train the elephants?
14. Why do they beat the elephants?
Couldn't they just give them a little tap on the head and say "no" in a stern voice?
15. Do you feel sorry for the elephants?

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Answer from Ashley and Karen of the International School of Lhokseumawe:

Dear Kathryn,
Howdy! Thanks for replying to our article. You asked us why they train the elephants.
Well, here's the answer: If you think about it, the elephants would have a much worse fate if they weren't captured and trained. Their habitats are being destroyed, and they have an extremely good chance of being shot by an angry farmer.
So, as we've said in our article, the elephants are used by local loggers to fell trees and haul them back to camp.
Question 2:
If your parents lightly tapped you on the head and said, "No", not many of us would take it that seriously - would you?
So think of what an impression that would make on a 10 ton elephant! It's skin is so thick, it probably wouldn't feel the "tap" anyway.
Also, you must remember, that the elephants are not beaten after they are trained. They are in fact tapped lightly on the head with a pick ax- like Leann had- which they can actually feel!
Do we feel sorry for the elephants?
Yes, we do, but we both think that they are better off as bull-dozers.

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Answer from Ashley and Karen of the International School of Lhokseumawe:

Elephants do many things besides performing in a circus. They fell trees and tow them back to camp. This makes them a great asset to those involved in the logging business.
Yes, it's possible that elephants escape, but not likely. Trainers take great care in making sure that the elephants cannot break free.
For one thing, if the elephant gets free, they can do a great deal of damage and could certainly kill someone.
Also, if they run away, the trainers will have lost a lot of the time and effort they invested in the elephant.
I guess that it depends which elephant you walk under. If you were to walk under a wild elephant it would kick you, or even trample you, but the elephants that are taken out onto the street for people to walk under are trained and won't kick you.
Hopefully.
Anyways, I think that wraps it up. Good-bye for now.

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Answer from Ashley and Karen of the International School of Lhokseumawe:

We're not sure which elephants you mean, when you say that they kill people.

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Answer from Leann and Brad of the International School of Lhokseumawe:

Behavior of the Sumatran Elephant
Sumatran elephants are very social animals. They use infrasonic sounds to communicate with each other. Sumatran elephants roam around the jungle pushing over trees. As they walk they use their roaring and infrasonic sounds to communicate.
Elephants are very protective of their young. When they are being attacked by predators, the older elephants surround their young in the middle of a circle with the bulls on the outside. All of the females are protective of the young. These social pachyderms travel in large groups.
The elephants' strangest behavior involves actions toward their dead. When an elephant dies the others come around, sniffing and moving the bones. They do this as if they are trying to remember the dead elephant. This odd behavior is not yet fully understood.
Elephants are not very friendly zoo animals. There have been cases where they have killed people. Elephants are not easy animals to train. Sometimes elephants fight each other because they want to know who is the strongest and who will have first choice of the female.
Elephants are known to eat a great multitude of food. They eat anything but meat. They eat bananas, palm tree leaves, and almost any other plant. Because elephants have a tremendous appetite, much of Sumatra's jungles and crops are being trampled down.

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Answer from Patrick, Kelly and Christopher of the International School of Lhokseumawe:

THE SUMATRAN ELEPHANT
The Sumatran elephant's habitat is in Sumatra, Indonesia. The average male elephant reaches eight feet high and weighs up to six tons. A baby elephant can weigh up to one ton! The males are always larger than the females. They're bulky and gargantuan. They are massive creatures and docile when they are in the untamed world and even when they are domesticated.
Sumatran elephants have enough strength to knock down a tree. They can also pick up a log using just their trunk and their tusks. A baby elephant is called a calf; the females are called cows.
Elephants have a trunk, two tusks, two eyes, two ears and two lumps on their head. They are known to be clever animals. When an elephant is hot, they fan themselves by flapping their ears back and forth. When an elephant herd wants to move they use their ears as a guide. They can hear infrasonic sounds. Their hearing range is very large. Elephants hear some noises that can not be heard by a human ear.
Sumatran elephants are smaller than the African elephants and so these elephants also have smaller ears. Their eyes are always very watery. They have a very poor sight and depend on their well-developed ears and their sense of smell to aid them in times of need. Their trunk is their nose. They also use it like a hand.
Their trunk has over 40,000 muscles that enables them to move it. Their trunk is the most flexible body part that they have. Just below their trunk they have their tusks. Only male Sumatra elephants have tusks. Elephants are hunted for their tusks and people use them for ivory to make decorative structures.
We need to stop the poaching or else the population of elephants will dissapear at a rapid rate. Soon they will become extinct if we do not help protect them.

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From Ashley of Delmar Elementary School, Maryland

I disagree with the trainers. The elephants are almost endangered. Do you think they deserve that?? I would not even be a trainer if I had to do that. Here are some questions.
1. Do they have to train them that way for the circus?
2. Can they find out some other way?
3. What will happen if the elephants learn from their trainers how to beat people?
Starve people?
4. I don't mind if they use the elephant for a bulldozer, but not to beat them. Don't you think so?
5. Will you write me some questions involving research on the elephants?

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Answer from Ashley and Karen of the International School of Lhokseumawe:

Dear Ashley,
Hi from Karen and Ashley. We are glad that you have taken such a strong stand for the elephants' well being, but you have to remember that there is another side to this story.
To answer your first question (Do the elephants deserve beatings?) no, of course not, but there are good reasons behind them. Elephants are massive creatures. One simply cannot politely tell an elephant to move over and expect it to mind.
Have you ever ridden an elephant? They have incredibly thick hides, and do not feel things as other animals would.
For example, if one were to train a horse, one would use a whip. An elephant could not care less whether or not you whipped it.
On the other hand, beatings that would successfully train an elephant would probably kill a horse.
We have absolutely no idea what method of training is used on the elephants you see at the circus.
We know of only one other way of training an elephant. It is the western way. The elephant is tied down to the ground by his trunk and his legs are secured. The trainer approaches him and in a brief manner of speaking, shows him that there is nothing to be afraid of.
Before you jump to any conclusions, this method has both its up sides and down sides. While the training is less harsh, afterwards, the elephant receives less respect.
In Asian areas, elephants are regarded as special, and above other animals. In India, elephants are almost sacred. So, during training, they are better off in the west, but afterwards are better off in Asia.
Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaay, that was a very interesting concept, (about elephants learning to starve and beat people) but we don't find it to be very likely. We don't think that elephants have the mental capacity to learn to starve or beat a person. Perhaps they could trample a person, or charge into them, but they would be beaten and restrained right away.
Yes, elephants do make good bulldozers. We're afraid we've given you the wrong impression. The elephants aren't beaten once they are trained. That pick axe you saw Leann holding was only for when the elephant did the wrong thing. It's like a cowboy's spurs or a jockey's whip, or a cattle prod. Their skin is so thick and tough that they don't feel the axe as a human or a dog would.
We have a rather humorous story to tell along these lines. A few years ago, before we moved here, the whole school went to the elephant farm on a trip much like the one we just went on. They got to feeding the elephants bananas and one little girl started teasing a baby elephant with one.
The elephant naturally got angry, and decided to step on the little girl's foot. Our muscular big, bad principal (Mr. Jacoby)ran full speed into the elephant!!!!!!!!!!! The elephant, the baby elephant we might add, did not budge. Mr. J bounced off like a rubber ball!!!

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From Kim of Delmar Elementary School, Maryland

Dear Ashley and Karen,
I have some comments about your essays. This is not toward you though, it is toward the elephant trainers. I also have some questions.
1.) The way they train elephants is very cruel and that is the #1 reason that they have killed people.
2.) Why do they have to treat them like that?
3.) How do the elephants work for them?
4.) Have the elephants ever got very ill or seriously hurt from the beatings and starvation?
5.) It is unfair for the trainers to treat the elephants like that. Instead of beating them and starving them, they should give them treats and sort of bribe them.
6.) Is that how they tame elephants for the circus?
7.) Is this treatment used on other animals as well?
8.) How do the trainers beat the elephants without making them go mad and kill?

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From Hanvi of Delmar Elementary School, Maryland

Dear Ashley and Karen,
Hi!!! My name is Hanvi. I think it is very cruel how the trainers treated the poor elephants. I mean, beatings and starvation!! I have some questions for you.
1) Have the elephants ever died because of the harsh treatment?
2) Don't the elephants hate the trainers for the way they treated them?

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Answer from Ashley and Karen of the International School of Lhokseumawe:

Dear Hanvi,
Sorry it took us so long to reply, but we've been very busy. We appreciate your interest in our article. We can't prove this, but we're certain that inexperienced trainers may have killed weak elephants.
However, the intent of the beating is not to kill the elephants as a dead elephant is not of any material value.
Perhaps at first the elephants hate their trainers, but after all, after training, the trainers take extraordinarily good care of them because without the elephants they would be driven to poverty.
Also, elephants being animals and not having the same mental capacity as humans might make it difficult for elephants to hate someone.
That's all for now. Toodles!

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