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Elephants bathing in Katugastota River, Ceylon.
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Elephants come daily to Mahaweli River, near Katugastota, to bathe and keep themselves happy
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For more than 2000 years, the people of Ceylon have been closely linked economically and culturally with the elephant. Temples and palaces were all constructed with the use of captured, trained, and domesticated elephants. Elephants were also incorporated into important religious ceremonies, such as Esela Perehera in Kandy, which can feature 100 elephants in the procession.
Today, however, the elephant is also an endangered species. Less than three thousand elephants survive today in Sri Lanka, perhaps a fifth of those that are said to have inhabited the island 200 years ago. Efforts are being made to preserve the ecosystem and habitat of this mammal. |
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