CHIANG MAI, Thailand - FEB 27 2006: A tourist touches elephants' trunks at The Mae Sa Elephant Park. Many visitors believe the only way to interact with the animals is through the entertainment based shows, when many environmentally based programs provide better experiences for both people and animals. Asian elephants - strong, social, and intelligent - have been trained for thousands of years for use in transportation, labor, and ritual. In Thailand, Elephants are of immense cultural importance, but their numbers are shockingly plummeting. In 1905, there were over 100,000 elephants in this land - now they are estimated at less than 5,000, of which barely half are in the wild. (Photo by Logan Mock-Bunting)