SRI LANKA’S FOUR – LEGGED JUMBO FOUND IN THE GUINNESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS 2016 By Hemantha Situge e-mail:hsituge@gmail.com blog: Hemantha Situge@blogspot.com

SRI LANKA’S FOUR – LEGGED JUMBO

FOUND IN THE

GUINNESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS

2016

By

Hemantha Situge

e-mail:hsituge@gmail.com

blog: Hemantha Situge@blogspot.com

*SRI LANKA’S FOUR – LEGGED JUMBO* *FOUND IN THE * *GUINNESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS* *2016* *By* *Hemantha Situge* *e-mail:hsituge@gmail.com* *blog: Hemantha **Situge@blogspot.com* Sri Lanka Four – Legged Jumbo (Elephant maximus) is the only largest number of species from fauna of elephants in the world that has found niche to be placed on the prestigious records of the Guinness Book of World Records – 2016, next year. At page 42 of the latest Guinness Book under the title of Elephant sub title: most elephant subspecies it is recorded thus: “Researchers widely agrees that the Asian... an Elephant (Elephant maximus) has the most sub species four in all: the Borneo Pygmy (Elephant maximus borne  is as   see box above) the Indian (Elephas maximus indicus) the Sri Lankan (Elephas maximus maximus) and the Sumatran (Elephant maximus sumatrensis).

The  Sri Lanka elephant is the largest sub species. It attains a shoulder height of       weight upto 5500 Kg (12,125 lbs). It is also darker in colour than other Asian elephants with more patches of decreased skin pigmentation. Unusually most Sri Lankan subspecies have no tusks.” 

It is the  fervent view of  this writer that the “Guinness Book of World Records 2016” account has properly given due recognition to the Sri Lanka’s elephant. The genus of elephants maximus  was introduced from the Sri Lankan species which later became Elephas maximus maximus – Sri Lanka’s subspecies. The “type” locality of the elephas maximus is Ceylon now Sri Lanka. The zoologist, Ray in 1963 created the genus Elephas from a young Ceylon elephant which he saw in the zoological gardens at Florence. In 1754 Linne’ described Elephas indicus in the Memoir of the Museum of the King Adolph Fredrick of Stockholm and based their description both that of Ray and upon the foetus of an African elephant which still exists in that museum. In the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae (1758) he has renamed the animal as Elephas maximus.

It also should be borne in mind Ceylon’s (now Sri Lanka) elephant Elephas maximus maximus was known by two genuses the present is also known by two other extinct species. They are viz. Elephas maximus vilaliya and Elephas maximus sinhaleyus the other genus known to have extinct from Ceylon (now sri Lanka) Hypselephas hysudrieus sinhaleyus.

It is the view of this writer that Ceylon now Sri Lanka undoubtedly the  cynosure of  all eyes for its biodiversity with a diverse fauna of elephants. We should place on record a word of praise for the Guinness Book of World Records at least in the year 2016 for paying a somewhat belated tribute to the diverse fauna of elephants in this hotspot” “Pearl of the Indian Ocean” – Sri Lanka.