Talk:Elephant/Archive 3

message: Is not listed!  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.85.160.89 (talk) 20:20, 12 October 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Slons are good  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.198.250.3 (talk) 08:16, 10 September 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Conservation Status

message: How heavy are elephants? The article lists a newborn's weight and that of the heaviest elephant found, but no average. A weight range for males and one for females would, I think, be imperitive to this article.
Does it make any sense at all to describe the weight of the worlds largest elephant to three significant figures, when the initial measurement was to two significant figures, and was an estimate at that?  Guinness reports an elephant shot in 1974 to four figures (12.24 tonnes - http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/content_pages/record.asp?recordid=51172 ) Danil Suits 06:46, 17 September 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Size

message: can we add please?  www.geocities.com/RainForest/8298
I humbly submit my agreement that this extremely valuable resource page be added as a reference.  The merits are numerous and, I should think, obvious to even the most casual viewer.  First of all, these breeds of elephant are exceedingly rare and beautiful.  I was priveleged enough to catch one in person and, I must tell you, I have not been the same since.  The vicarious viewing of this beautiful specimen, as this page allows, offers a similar life changing experience for even the most jaded internet user.
Dear Wikipedians -- this is a page that deserves to be seen by the world.  I hope, deeply, that you agree with my assessment, and take it into your deepest consideration.--194.25.159.210 17:04, 18 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  useful resource page 

message: The total African elephant population appears to have been more or less stable for more than a decade (down tenfold from a half century ago). Some regions of Africa are dealing with local elephant overpopulations, most regions are not. When reporting 2002 estimates of 1,460,000 (probable) to 1,560,000 (possible) African elephants, researchers noted that this represented an increase over their 1998 figures (360,000 probable, 500,000 possible) suggestive of incredible population growth. However this apparent increase could have been an artifact of the much larger area represented in the 2002 survey – or "many other factors unrelated to overall elephant numbers" (From IUCN's African Elephant Status Report 2002, page 17 http://iucn.org/themes/ssc/sgs/afesg/aed/pdfs/aesr2002.pdf)  The papers presented in Pachyderm magazine (journal of the African Elephant, African Rhino and Asian Rhino Specialist Groups) through June 2006 do not give any indication of a recent boom in elephant population (http://iucn.org/themes/ssc/sgs/afesg/pachy/pachy40.html). A "comprehensive African Elephant Status Report (AESR) is … expected to be published some time in 2006" based on their current data. See http://iucn.org/themes/ssc/sgs/afesg/aed/index.html
... Verifiable reliable peer-reviewed published scientific research by The World Conservation Union that has not yet been cited in the talk or the article. User:67.10.163.122|67.10.163.122]] 10:20, 2 August 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Contrary to what is stated above, a formal statistical analysis of changes in elephant numbers, using only comparable survey data, was published in Pachyderm 38 (p.19-28). The analysis concluded that the elephant population in Southern Africa (which currently holds the largest regional population) and perhaps also in Eastern Africa, have been increasing considerably in recent years, at about 4.5% per annum for both regions combined. Nowhere near as fast as suggested by Colbert, admittedly, but at pretty high overall rates nonetheless. Perhaps more importantly though, the estimates that now remain on the Wikipedia elephant page (3,000,000 in 1970, 300,000 today) are as inaccurate and fictitious as those suggested by Colbert. There are believed to be about half a million African elephants today (give or take 100,000 or so). We do not know, and cannot reliably estimate, the figures in the 1970s; the first widely publicised continental estimate, 1.3 million in 1979, was made by Iain Douglas Hamilton in The African Elephant Action Plan (IUCN/WWF/NYZS - unpublished). The whole irony of the Colbert story, is that the widely publicised decline in elephant numbers between the late 1970s and the early 1990s came to be widely accepted through a very similar process of sheer repetition. The Douglas-Hamilton estimate included a very large proportion of guesses - extrapolations of assumed elephant densities over vast areas of assumed range. Such guesses, which made up over half of the continental estimate, were removed from subsequent continental estimates due to their lack of basis and unreliability. Many erroneously interpreted this as sign of substantial declines in overall elephant numbers. Numbers have undoubtedly declined drastically in many areas through poaching and habitat loss, but at the same time elephant numbers have been increasing in others - particularly in Southern Africa, where populations have been recovering after reaching their lowest point about 100 years ago. We simply do not the extent to which declines in some areas may have been offset by increases in others, and hence remain ignorant of the shape of the net trend at the continental level in the last 30 years or so. --Pitix 12:56, 3 August 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: If you visit this article from American University, you will see that the actual population has increased in many African countries, such as Botswana, which is currently experiencing severe elephant overpopulation. While the population may have not tripled over the past ten years, it certainly has increased. Anyone who reverts my edits, which are actually backed by respectable sources, while yours are not, will be warned for vandalism. Cielomobile 18:37, 29 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  African elephant population: actual figures 

message: I have ruthlessly removed anything to do with the Colbert Report to /Colbert.  I thought the segment was funny as hell, and good publicity for us, but this talk page should be about elephants again.  I will continue to ruthlessly archive in this manner. -- SCZenz 17:10, 4 August 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Alright, so long as we haven't just created a Colbert chat room/messageboard.  I'd support simply declaring it an archive, locking the page, and diverting any other comments about the matter to the talk pages of individual users.  (But my, does this place look a lot cleaner.)  Either way, it's a positive step.  JDoorjam     Talk 17:31, 4 August 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: None of us have to read that page, so it's a lot more pleasant having comments there (since people will comment somewhere).  After a week or so, hopefully, it will effectively be an archive.  I'll keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't become a chat room in any case. -- SCZenz 17:33, 4 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Talk page archived 

message: Check out before and after: how the Elephant article has changed since July 31.  Do we have a better article as a result of all that traffic?  Did we lose anything in the shuffle? --M@rēino 15:17, 8 August 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Overall it is much better.  However, there is a major problem now: the article says 600,000 elephants are left, and then later says 300,000 are left.  This issue needs to be resolved quite quickly... or maybe the number of elephants has doubled in the past 6 days? — Dark Shikari talk/contribs 16:19, 9 August 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I changed "roughly 300,000 today" -> "to roughly 600,000 in 1989, down to 272,000 in 2000" -- that is what the references next to it say. I don't know what the current population is... BCorr|Брайен 16:34, 9 August 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Nice work. I touched up the grammar in the second sentence, but other than that it looks great. Thanks! -Harmil 19:40, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

text: The population references still need to be cleaned up.  According to the article, the population of African elephants has doubled in the past 6 years.  The intro says there were 272,000 in 2000, while the next section says there are 600,000 today. 24.16.40.101 03:32, 11 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  So, how'd we do? 

message: With regard to this page, besides barring against any further acts of the aforementioned heinous wiki-crime, perhaps this page should have a section devoted to the purported intelligence of elephants, which seems in many ways to reflect the intelligence of other large mammals such as whales, dolphins, and primates such as chimpanzees and gorillas.  The intelligence-type of parrots and crows does not seem to be as analogous, as it is more based on mimickry and a type of survivalist/strategic thought-pattern, although it is also noted.  Matthew A.J.י.B. 01:59, 10 August 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I was also surprised that there isn't such a section.  That would definitely be a worthwhile addition. — Dark Shikari talk/contribs 14:09, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

text: The intelligence of parrots and crows may actually be more analogous than you think, since intelligence in mammals actually correlates far better with longevity than with size, both parrots are crows are quite long-lived by comparison to other birds, which indicates the analogy may hold up between birds and mammals. Sad mouse 20:30, 21 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Elephant Intelligence

message: The Elephant#Asian Elephant section states that there are "approximately 40,000" Asian Elephants total, comprised of "3,000-4,500" Sri Lankan Asian Elephants, "approximately 36,000" Mainland Asian Elephants and "33,000 to 53,000" Sumatran Asian Elephants. (Sidenote, I note the Asian Elephant article has no pop. figures at all) TeeEmCee 09:30, 11 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Asian Elephant population error

message: It's been two weeks now; I'm taking off the semi-protection.  We'll probably still get pinged by a few people who thought it was OMG SO HILARIOUS, but it's time for us to move on.  JDoorjam     Talk 20:33, 13 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Removing sprotection