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A US-based not-for-profit promoting animal welfare, health, and conservation through fundraisers and adventurism activism

asian elephant closeup Location of the Asian Elephant

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Sweet Fact #1:

Asian Elephants are the largest land mammal in Asia

Sweet Fact #2:

They can live up to 70 yrs!

Sweet Fact #3:

Males experience a yearly “musth”, which is a period when testosterone levels are augmented 100 times more than basal levels. During musth, bulls are extremely aggressive

Asian Elephant

"You gonna finish that whole bushel of bananas?"

endangered status asian elephant asian elephant asian elephant asian elephant

Photos Courtesy of: ZSL

Profile

Size:
  • Head and body length: 550-640 cm
  • Tail length: 120-150 cm
  • Shoulder height: 250-300 cm
Weight:
  • Male: 5,400 kg
  • Female: 2,720 kg
Closest Living Relatives of the African and Asian Elephant:
  • Manatees
  • Dugongs
Distribution:

Fragmented islands of forest across Asian mainland from India to Nepal and east to Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia

Habitat:

They inhabit a varied range from grasslands to tropical evergreen forest/semi-evergreen forest, wet and dry deciduous forests to dry thorn forests. Especially for the protection of their young, they favor living within heavily forested areas and preferably with greater moistness

Some Notable Differences Between the Asian and African Elephant:

The Asian elephant is smaller than the African elephant Has smaller ears, a more rounded back, and the presence of two dome-like structures on the top of its head

Trunks:

  • Asian elephants have a single “finger” at the tip of their trunk while African elephants have two “fingers” on theirs

Tusks:

  • Smaller in Asian elephants
  • Female Asian elephants do not possesses while female African elephants do
  • Female Asian elephants have smaller projections of their incisors called “tushes”

Skin Pigmentation:

  • Lighter grey-brown with occasional pink spots on the face and base of the trunk
  • High sexual dimorphism between males and females

Link: Differences between African and Asian Elephant

Favorite Food:

Bamboo, sugar cane, and bananas

Favorite Activity:

Investigating scrummy foliage with their trunks and making a stomping mess in the process

Personality:
  • Super social
  • Women rule the house: there is a single matriarch, who is the oldest female, that leads the group
  • Each group consists of related females and their offspring
  • Males leave the group when they reach maturity (~6-7 yrs old). They then roam around alone or sometimes form bachelor groups
Population:
  • 35,000-50,000 in the wild in 1995
  • Scientists believe the estimates are well-below this number now
  • 20,000-25,000 in India
  • 5,000-6,000 in Myanmar
  • 200 in Vietnam
  • There has been a 50% decline over the past three generations
Threat:
  • Habitat loss due to forest conversion for logging and agriculture.This has led to loss of migratory routes used for breeding
  • Killings from farmers and villagers
  • Poaching for ivory and occasionally for meat