By: Dr. Jerry Bergman
Montpelier, Ohio
One of the most endearing, but unusual, pets is an elephant. Both rescued and captive elephants form deep, lasting bonds with humans based on trust, affection, and respect.
They are highly intelligent and emotional, allowing individual bonds to develop through caretaking. Family is central in elephant society.
Elephants share many human traits. Both traveling packs of mothers with their calves and larger groups illustrate the creature’s complex social structure which is often composed of relatives, including aunts and cousins.
A friend who rescued an orphaned elephant commented that it is “an emotional investment that spans a lifetime. When they embrace you as family, they never let you go. It is a calling that comes with enormous highs but also devastating lows.
However, for all the heartbreak, I would not change it for the world. With fortune on their side, elephants live upwards of three score and ten years, much like ourselves. To see them through their most formative years is an immense honor and responsibility.”
In short, “In the wild, raising an elephant calf is a family affair. Their keepers provide the love and support these babies need to thrive. Just like with humans, elephants’ formative years influence the creatures they become as adults.
When they grow up feeling loved, they are able to embody those values as adults, nurturing their own families in the same manner.”
An elephant keeper and trainer, called a mahout, often forms a lifetime bond with their elephant.
Elephant training involves a combination of positive reinforcement (rewarding desirable behaviors) and “ask and reward” with food, such as fruit. The goal is to build a bond of trust and work to ensure that the elephant’s welfare is foremost.
Elephants are one of the best-known circus animals and, in children’s literature, they are often depicted as gentle giants, wise friends, or adventurous, curious characters that represent wisdom, long memory, and strength.
Famous examples include Dumbo the elephant, the regal Babar, the colorful Elmer, the inquisitive Elephant’s Child, and the imaginative Saggy Baggy Elephant.
Elephants are not directly mentioned in the Protestant canonical Old or New Testaments, but they are mentioned in the Catholic Bible several times.
They are alluded to in 1 Kings 10:22 by the word “shenhabbim” which refers to ivory, often interpreted as elephants. 1 Kings 10:22 describes King Solomon’s immense wealth and trade network, noting that he owned a fleet of large, ocean-going Phoenician merchant vessels.
These ships returned about every three years, carrying luxurious cargo, including gold, silver, ivory, apes (baboons or monkeys), and peacocks. In the Catholic Deuterocanonical books of 1 and 2 Maccabees, they are described as animals used to carry men into war.
Elephants have been used as working animals for over 4,000 years, primarily in Asia, for logging, transport, and, historically, for their use in warfare. Known for their intelligence and strength, they are invaluable for obtaining timber, hauling up to 4,000 pounds, half their body weight, out of the forest.
Their agility allows them to work in thick forests where heavy machinery is unable to operate.
CLAIMS OF ELEPHANT EVOLUTION
Elephants are classified in the order Proboscidea, which includes all massive herbivorous placental mammals having long tusks and a long trunk. The order includes only the two living species, the Asian and African elephants, and the extinct mastodons.
The fossil record has documented many elephant variants, as is true of many animals, including horses, dogs, and cattle, but no evidence of evolution from a non-elephant.
Evolutionists believe that the origin of everything was ultimately evolution. Everything evolved, including the Solar System, the Sun, the Earth, and all life, including elephants.
The evolutionary theory teaches that elephants evolved over 60 million years ago from small, fox-sized creatures called Eritherium. Fossil Eritherium remains, primarily teeth, jaws, and partial skulls from 15 individuals, were found in the Ouled Abdoun basin.
The analyses of the fossils produced a small, trunkless, extinct herbivorous mammal just 1.6 to 2 feet (50 to 60 cm) long, weighing only 9 to 11 pounds (4 to 5 kilograms). Eritherium, evolutionists speculate, evolved into the modern massive, specialized herbivores alive today.
Besides an enormous weight gain, Eritherium must have somehow evolved its enormous size, a trunk, tusks, and columnar limbs to carry its increased size. No evidence exists for this evolution to document that it evolved into modern elephants.
Yet, elephant phylogeny shows Eritherium at the base of the evolutionary tree. The reason Eritherium was selected was, although this animal was very unlike an elephant, it was the best option available.
Full-grown elephants generally weigh as much as 6,350 kilograms (14,000 pounds). African savanna bulls (males) are the largest, averaging up to 7,000 kilograms (15,000+ pounds), while Asian elephants and African forest elephants are slightly smaller, typically weighing up to 5,000 kilograms (11,000 pounds).
This compares to the Eritherium’s 9 to 11 pounds. Thus, the modern elephant is 1,100 to 1,400 times heavier than its putative ancestor.
The fact is, the first elephant was a fully formed elephant, created on the 6th day of the Creation Week (Genesis 1:24-25). They were a gift to humanity greatly appreciated by millions of people, especially in parts of Asia.
———————-
Dr. Bergman is a multi-award-winning professor and author. He has 9 degrees and has taught at both the graduate and undergraduate level for over 40 years. His over 2,100 publications are in both scholarly and popular journals. Dr. Bergman’s work has been translated into 15 languages. He has spoken over 2,000 times to college, university and church groups in America, Canada, Europe, the South Sea Islands, and Africa. He lives in Montpelier and is available to present in churches and schools. Jerry can be reached at JerryBergman30@yahoo.com Bergman’s website is: https://crev.info/author/jbergman/