Description: There are three living species: the African Bush Elephant, the African Forest Elephant, and the Asian Elephant. Other species have become extinct since the last ice age, which ended about 10,000 years ago, the Mammoth being the most well-known of these. Elephants are mammals, and the largest land animals alive today. Jumbo, a circus elephant, has entered the English language as a synonym for "large". Dumbo, the elephant who learns to fly in the Disney movie of the same name. After Alexander's victory over the Indian king Porus, the captured war elephants became a symbol of imperial power, used as an emblem of the Seleucid diadoch empire,...     ( +expand to view full text )

Description: There are three living species: the African Bush Elephant, the African Forest Elephant, and the Asian Elephant. Other species have become extinct since the last ice age, which ended about 10,000 years ago, the Mammoth being the most well-known of these. Elephants are mammals, and the largest land animals alive today. Jumbo, a circus elephant, has entered the English language as a synonym for "large". Dumbo, the elephant who learns to fly in the Disney movie of the same name. After Alexander's victory over the Indian king Porus, the captured war elephants became a symbol of imperial power, used as an emblem of the Seleucid diadoch empire, e.g. on coins. The story of the Blind Men and an Elephant was written to show how reality may be viewed by different perspectives. Its source is unknown, but it appears to have originated in India. It has been attributed to Buddhists, Hindus, Jainists, and Sufis, and was also used by Discordians.