1. The leader of an elephant group is female.

2. The maximum gestation period can be 22 months.

3. An elephant can normally go on calving till the age of 40 years only.

4. Among the States in India, the highest elephant population is in Kerala.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 and 2 only

(b) 2 and 4 only 

(c) 3 only

(d) 1, 3 and 4 only

2. Ans: a

Explanation:

Elephants are the largest land mammals on earth and have distinctly massive bodies, large ears, and long trunks. Two genetically different African species exist: the savanna elephant and the forest elephant, with a number of characteristics that differentiate them both. The African savanna elephant is the largest elephant species, while the Asian forest elephant and the African forest elephant are of a comparable, smaller size.

About Indian Elephant:

• Both female and male may live 55-60 years in wild and 70 years in captivity. The mean age of first calving ranged between 18 and 20 years and the females are known to breed up to an age of 55 years. The active reproductive phase in cow elephants is about 40 years. 
• Gestation usually lasts 18-22 months, the longest of any mammal, with a minimum of 17 months and maximum of 24 months. Normally one calf is born, though there are occasional records of twins and rarely triplets.  
• In Indian elephants, the family groups are the basic social units, and they vary in number from two to seven. These family groups are formed along matriarchal lines and are usually led and coordinated by an older cow. Several groups may join to form a herd, several herds a clan and several clans a population 
• In wild it is known to occupy a variety of vegetation types. In India, they are distributed from thorn scrub to dry and moist deciduous forests in the south, sal forests in the north, alluvial flood plains in West Bengal and Assam and evergreen forests in the northeast and south.
• Within Asia, although elephants occur in 13 countries, India holds more than 60% wild elephant populations of the globe. 
•  Karnataka with 6,399 elephants in its forest the highest population of elephants in the wild in India.

Hence, statements 1 and 2 are correct and 3 and 4 are incorrect.

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