If your general knowledge is better than average, you will wonder how someone could do this. But yes, the cash-rich Union Ministry of Tourism has released a stamp with an African elephant on it. This laudable initiative was taken on the occasion of World Tourism Day on Monday, September 27.
This year the theme is 'tourism and biodiversity'. So the ministry, led by the exuberant Selja, tried to do its bit — by putting an African elephant on a stamp. The tourism ministry released as many as 18 stamps on India's rich biodiversity to "highlight" important tourism interest spots. The ministry also released full-page ads in national dailies displaying the stamps.
Whether the ad served its intended purpose, no one knows. But what has certainly been highlighted is the ministry's gross ignorance about India.
Well, Miss Selja, African elephants are not found in India, you know. Those are found in Africa. (One assumes she knows where Africa is.)
African elephants are distinguished from Asian elephants in several ways, the most noticeable being their much larger ears. Also, the African elephant is typically larger than the Asian elephant and has a concave back. In Asian elephants, only males have tusks, but both males and females of African elephants have tusks and are usually less hairy than their Asian cousins.
Among African elephants, males stand 3.2–4 metres (10–13 ft) tall at the shoulder and weigh 4,700–6,048 kg (10,000–13,330 lb), while females stand 2.2–2.6 metres (7.2–8.5 ft) tall and weigh 2,160–3,232 kg (4,800–7,130 lb). Asian elephants tend to grow to around 2–3.6 metres (6.6 to 11.8 ft) in height and are 3,000–5,000 kg (6,600–11,000 lb) in weight.
