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

Every living thing has needs in order to survive. These needs include food, water, air, shelter and space. What happens when living things are in conflict to acquire these needs? Humans and elephants are facing that question on the island of Sumatra.

Sumatra, in Indonesia, has many types of plants and animals. One animal in battle for food on Sumatra is the giant Asian elephant. These two to five ton herbivores can be destructive. The elephants eat up to 300 pounds of vegetation in less than a day. Now that’s a lot of food! All that eating can be destructive to the island. But elephants help the island also, because once they digest that food, they have to, you know, poop! Their poop is called dung, and they drop dung all over the island. Sounds smelly to me! Inside the dung are seeds that help replant the forest. That’s good!

Humans also live on the island. Humans aren’t as big as elephants. They can be destructive also. Man has cut down over half of the island’s forest for timber and farming. Instead of replanting trees like the elephant does, man plants crops like palm, corn, and coffee. These are crops that make things that you use in your home every day. These crops provide money for people to live on and food for the people to eat. That’s good for humans, but bad for the elephants.

Man and elephants have trouble sharing space. Man builds his farms in the elephant’s habitat. Elephants wander 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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