Velayudhan of Nenmara is fondly called ‘Kaduva’ (tiger) by his fellow mahouts and elephant lovers. He has taken care of more than 100 elephants in his career spanning 50 years and is praised for his ability to tame even the toughest of tuskers.

Velayudhan had started out as an assistant to his guru Valiapadam Vella and became the main mahout of the baby elephant Vijayan at the age of 11.

Instead of one species of elephant, Africa has two, researchers said on Tuesday, confirming suspicions about the two distinctly different looking pachyderms.

Using gene sequencing tools, teams from Harvard, the University of Illinois and the University of York in Britain have shown that instead of being the same species -- as scientists have long believed -- the African savanna elephant and the smaller African forest elephant are distant cousins, having been largely separated for 2 million to 7 million years.

Following the killing of a mahout by an elephant at a temple in Alappuzha on Saturday, the Thrissur-based Elephant Lovers Association has written to authorities seeking steps to ensure safe conduct of festivals and to see that elephant parading rules were adhered to.

KOLLAM: Just eight of the 695 captive elephants in the State turned up for the 'Gajadinam'(Elephant day) celebrations organised by the Forest Department in five places on Sunday to mark Wildlife Week.

Arjunan is not an elephant of Kerala origin, yet he has got the beauty of a 'Naadan' elephant. Arjunan was brought to Kerala from north India in the year 1991 for Kirangatu Namboothiri by Punnathoor Nandakumar Raja. At that time he was a well built elephant with almost 9 feet height. His short tail is a speciality.