Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus)

Asian Elephant overview

The Asian elephant is the largest land animal in Asia and the only living species of its genus. It is smaller than the African bush elephant, with smaller rounded ears, a twin-domed forehead, an arched or level back and a single finger-like tip on its trunk. Only some males grow large tusks; females and many males have short tusks called tushes or none at all. Three subspecies are usually recognized: Indian, Sri Lankan and Sumatran. People have tamed Asian elephants for at least 4,000 years for logging, ceremony and war, and about a quarter of all remaining Asian elephants live in captivity.

How Long Do Asian Elephants Live?

Asian elephants live 50–60 years in the wild, and a few reach 70 or more. As with African elephants, life is limited by the last of six sets of molars wearing out. Studies have found that zoo-born Asian elephants tend to die younger than those in protected wild or working populations.

How Much Does an Asian Elephant Weigh?

Adult Asian elephants weigh 2,000–5,000 kg (4,400–11,000 lb). Males average about 4,000 kg and females about 2,700 kg, so they are noticeably lighter than African bush elephants. A newborn calf weighs around 100 kg (220 lb).

How Tall Is an Asian Elephant?

Asian elephants stand 2–3 m (6.6–9.8 ft) tall at the shoulder. Bulls average about 2.75 m and cows about 2.4 m. Unlike African elephants, the highest point of an Asian elephant's body is the top of its head rather than its shoulders.

How Fast Can an Asian Elephant Run?

The fastest speed reliably measured for an Asian elephant is about 25 km/h (15 mph). A 2003 study of elephants in Thailand found that even at top speed they never have all four feet off the ground, so their fast gait is part walk and part run.

How Long Is an Asian Elephant Pregnant?

An Asian elephant is pregnant for 18–22 months, around 650 days, among the longest pregnancies of any mammal. A cow has one calf at a time, usually every four to five years. Calves nurse for two to three years and are looked after by the whole herd.

What Do Asian Elephants Eat?

Asian elephants are herbivores that feed mainly on grasses, along with bark, roots, leaves, bamboo and fruit. An adult eats roughly 150 kg (330 lb) of vegetation a day and drinks 80–200 liters of water. They also raid rice, sugarcane and banana crops, a major cause of conflict with farmers.

Diet type: herbivore. Grasses above all, plus bark, roots, leaves, bamboo, fruit and cultivated crops such as rice, sugarcane and bananas; an adult eats around 150 kg (330 lb) of plants daily.

Where Do Asian Elephants Live?

Asian elephants live in tropical and subtropical forests, grasslands and scrub across 13 countries in South and Southeast Asia. They prefer a mosaic of forest and grassy clearings near water. Today they occupy only a small fraction of a historic range that once stretched from Iraq to China's Yellow River.

Are Asian Elephants Endangered?

The Asian elephant is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, with a decreasing population of roughly 40,000–50,000 wild animals. Habitat loss and fragmentation are the biggest threats, followed by conflict with farmers, poaching and capture of wild elephants for tourism.

Endangered

Asian Elephant fun facts

• Only some male Asian elephants have large tusks; tuskless males are called makhnas.
• Asian elephants are more closely related to the extinct woolly mammoth than to African elephants.
• An Asian elephant's trunk has one finger-like tip, while an African elephant's has two.
• Asian elephants have passed the mirror self-recognition test, a sign of self-awareness shared with great apes and dolphins.
• Bulls periodically enter musth, a state of surging testosterone in which they secrete fluid from glands on the temples and become highly aggressive.

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Asian Elephant FAQ

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