Read all about it! Man versus Elephant!   When you have finished reading, click =CONTINUE=>.

Every living thing has needs. These needs are food, water, air, shelter and space. What happens when living things are fighting for these needs? There is one such fight for needs on the island of Sumatra.

Sumatra is an island in Indonesia. Sumatra has many kinds of plants and animals. One animal is the giant Asian elephant. These two to five ton animals can tear things up. They eat plants. These giants can eat 300 pounds of food in a day. That’s a lot of food! All that eating can hurt the island. But elephants can also help the island. Elephants help when they poop! Their poop is called dung. They drop dung all over the island. Sounds smelly to me! Inside the dung are seeds. These seeds help replant the forest. That’s good!

Humans also live on the island. They can hurt the island too. Man has cut down over half of the island’s forest for timber and farming. They do not replant trees like the elephant. Man plants palm, corn, and coffee crops. These are crops that make things you use in your home every day. These crops provide money and food for people to live. That’s good for humans, but bad for the elephants.

Man and elephants have problems sharing space. Man builds his farms in the elephant’s habitat. Elephants go onto the farmland. They eat up all the crops. They can eat up a family’s food for a whole year. These elephants tear down buildings. What would you do if an elephant ate all of your food? What if it knocked down your house? It’s no surprise these men and elephants fight.

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