World Elephant Day: 5 Reasons why elephants are extremely important for the ecosystem

World Elephant Day is celebrated across the world on August 12 every year. This day is dedicated to spreading awareness around the need to conserve elephants and to share valuable knowledge about these giants. The aim is to make people aware of their ill treatment, illegal poaching for the trade of ivory or holding them captive.

This day is important as it emphasises the fact that elephants are important for our ecosystem and it is our duty to support these animals and fulfil their ecological needs by conserving their terrain and not destroying their habitat for any selfish motives. 

So why is it so important to save elephants? Here are a few reasons why:

Elephants are the largest of all terrestrial mammals and they act as ecological engineers, contributing a large amount to mother nature in multiple ways.

Elephants help in proving groundwater to other species of animals as well. During the dry season, elephants use their tusks to dig groundwater. In areas of drought, this is helpful to feed themselves with water and it is helpful for other animals too under harsh climates. 

Some species also rely on elephants for seeds dispersal. When elephants eat, they create a gap in the vegetation. This gap is then filled with new plants that smaller animals consume.

Whenever elephants excrete, they leave huge heaps of dung everywhere. This dung is extremely useful for the soil as the dung is full of seeds from the plants they ate. The dung is essentially healthy for our ecosystem as it leaves new seeds into the ground that is grown into new plants, grass, or trees. 

Improving the status of habits for elephants to live will induce a healthy ecosystem. These large terrestrial mammals need a large habitat to survive and thus, mitigate the effects of climate change.

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