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UPSC Prelims 2020 · Environment · Species Watch
With reference to Indian elephants, consider the following statements: Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- The leader of an elephant group is a female.
- The maximum gestation period can be 22 months.
- An elephant can normally go on calving till the age of 40 years only.
- Among the States in India, the highest elephant population is in Kerala.
- (a) 1 and 2 only
- (b) 2 and 4 only
- (c) 3 only
- (d) 1, 3 and 4 only
Show the answer and explanation
Answer: (a) 1 and 2 only
The matriarch and the 22-month pregnancy are right.
Statement by statement
1. ✓ CORRECT Herds are led by the oldest female, the matriarch.
2. ✓ CORRECT Gestation is 18–22 months, the longest of any mammal.
3. ✗ WRONG Females can go on calving until about 60 years of age.
4. ✗ WRONG Karnataka has the most elephants (Elephant Census 2017: ~6,000), followed by Assam and Kerala.
The idea
An elephant herd is a family of related females and their young, led by the oldest and most experienced female, the matriarch. She remembers where water and food are in a bad year. Adult males live alone or in loose male groups.
Matriarch leads → Daughters, sisters and calves follow → Young males leave the herd in their teens → Pregnancy lasts up to 22 months → One calf every four to five years
The trap
Kerala’s temple elephants make it feel like the elephant State. Karnataka has the largest wild population.
Elimination technique
Statement 3 ends in “only”. Absolute words usually mark the false statement in Environment PYQs. That removes (c) and (d).
Also know
A cow elephant can go on calving into her fifties and beyond. Karnataka has the most wild elephants, and the Nilgiri landscape holds the largest single population. The elephant is the National Heritage Animal (2010). Project Elephant began in 1992.
🔒 Elephant: matriarchal herds · 22-month gestation · Karnataka > Assam > Kerala · Schedule I.