We are failing as humans.
According to scientists, the first proboscidean that actually looked reasonably like an elephant occurred about 35 million years ago and is called Palaeomastodon. While the first humans lived some 2- 6 million years ago.
Many sources of information tell us the same thing, humans are young compared to all other mammals on Earth. We are definitely much more intelligent, but that does not give us to right to poach animals—to kill animals for their fur or for fun in the form of hunting. It does not give us the right to kill elephants for their ivory. Why do we consider it a gem? Why do we kill elephants for it?
Ivory is composed mainly of dentine and some enamel along with minor organic matter. The dentine is obtained from elephant tusks, tusks of the walrus and the hippopotamus, from the tooth of the narwhal and the teeth of the sperm whale. This dentine is also present in our teeth. Dentine ivory is considered an organic gemstone. If dentine is also present in human teeth, why do we consider it a gem? Why are we poaching elephants for it, and why has the demand for ivory increased?
Elephants might be able to complain, but it is not like we humans can understand or even care about their complaints. We are selfish creatures going after money. Just because elephants cannot express their opinion in a way we can understand, we cannot assume that their opinion doesn’t matter or that they don’t matter. We think we can just grab what we want when we want and nobody will stand in our way.
We steal from humans as well; the only difference is that humans can complain and we as fellow humans can understand and heed their complaints, but what about the animals?
The elephant is considered a symbol of good luck, good fortune, beauty, power, dignity, intelligence, and peace in China, India, and Africa. In Asia, it is believed that elephants symbolize the divine.
If elephants are considered divine in some cultures, why do we slaughter the animal with such disrespect? How have we as a race reached such a low that we don’t consider the lives of our fellow mammals?
At the end of the day, we too are mammals. We depend on the ecosystem. Our actions will affect us too one day.
We will inherit the Earth, is what we have always heard, but we don’t own the Earth. We don’t own anything in this universe. We just happen to exist on earth. And our children will live here just as we live here.
It’s high time we open our eyes and see the world not as our property to do with as we please, but a rented home that we have to take care of if we expect to have a future here on earth. We as individuals cannot say we are insignificant and that we cannot achieve anything. We have to. Something small will go a long way. Do your part. Be a hummingbird.