User:Synabar/sandbox

Elephants are an animal. They have little biological drive to reproduce and are monogamous. They have ivory teeth. An elephant's nose is called a trunk because he uses it to put food in his mouth. The trunk is snakelike and is surrounded by its ivory teeth. There is no beast greater than this.

= Etymology = Different regions have different names for this beast.

The Greeks call it Elephio, meaning "mountain" due to its great size. The English name for the creature is derived from this interpretation. This name is applicable because the elephant is the largest land creature.

The Indians call it Barro from the word "barritus" which describes its roar.

In the Bible
An elephant its single mate are used to represent Adam and Eve.

This is reflected in the lack of sexual activity in the creature. Initially, both Adam and Eve were without sin, including the sin of lust. However once Eve ate the mandragora from the sacred tree, she was knowledgeable of sin. She brought this information to Adam and they procreated. Eve became pregnant and was exiled from paradise realm they inhabited.

Later Jesus Christ is described as a physical elephant, the most cunning of the prophets. He is not often remembered as elephant due to his humble sacrifice before death and shrunk back to a humanoid form. This return to the human form was to benefit all of mankind, giving them a model to follow.

=Habits and Nature=

Elephants are considered very intelligent and have an excellent memory. For an unknown reason, they are afraid of mice. An elephant lives for three hundred years. Elephants come in different color patterns, with white and blue being the two most common.

Social Grouping and Mating
Their primary social unit is the herd, a group of several adult elephants and a few babies. They exclusively mate within their herd. The mating ritual involves the two elephants having their backs to one another. A pregnancy will last for two years, and a given elephant will only become pregnant once. Each pregnancy results in a single offspring.

The mating process involves traveling east to the location of the mandragora tree described in the Bible. Both the childbearing elephant and its partner will travel to the tree, where the female will pick a fruit from the tree and offers it to the male. The female then encourages the other to eat it. Once both elephants have eaten the fruit, they conceive.

Conflicts with other Creatures
Elephants are enemies of dragons. Male elephants often guard pregnant females, especially during the birthing process. Male elephants are so at odds with dragons that they will attack snakes for their association to dragons. Elephants will kill the snake by trampling. Elephants have also been known to come into conflict with the wild rhinoceros.

Consequences of Anatomy
Elephants often lean against trees to sleep. This may cause complications as whether due to the elephant's size or a hunter, the tree may fall, leaving the elephant on the ground. Elephants have no knee joint and therefore are unable to right themselves after falling. The elephant will then roar from its trunk loudly to alert nearby elephants. Eventually the largest elephant in the herd will then gather around and join the roar, as it is unable to aid the fallen elephant. The roar of the largest elephant signals twelve additional elephants to gather and join in the signal. Only then will a small elephant arrive and due to its shorter stature, will be able to assist the fallen elephant in getting back up.

=Usage by People=

Both the Persians and Indians have been known to utilize elephants in warfare.

Both cultures fit the elephant with constructions of wood to use as a platform. They then build half height walls around the platform. This provides moderate coverage for archers, and they employ similar tactics to the Europeans.

The elephant itself is useful in war due to its large size, but it is considered sacrilegious to some people.

= References =