Asian elephant
- Key People:
- Raman Sukumar
Where are Asian elephants primarily found?
What are some physical differences between Asian and African elephants?
What is the diet of Asian elephants?
Why are Asian elephants considered endangered?
Asian elephant, (Elephas maximus), largest land mammal in the continent of Asia, notable for its distinctive gray color, floppy large ears, and multifunctional trunk. On average, Asian elephants weigh between 3,400 and 5,200 kg (between about 7,500 and 11,500 pounds) and stand between about 2.6 to 3.2 meters (between 8.5 and 10.5 feet) tall, with males being substantially larger than females (see sexual dimorphism). Similar to the two other species of living elephants—the African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) and the African bush elephant (L. africana)—Asian elephants can be found in tropical forests and grasslands, with wild populations residing mostly in India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Smaller populations are found in Bhutan, Laos, Cambodia, Bangladesh, China, Nepal, and Vietnam, and captive individuals, numbering several hundred animals, live in zoos.
Although Asian elephants and African elephants are similar, there are several key differences. Asian elephants possess smaller ears, trunks, and tusks than their African cousins, and their heads take on a twin-dome shape rather than a rounded singular dome. Across all species, elephants are equipped with one or more small flaplike projections, or protrusions, on the terminal end of the trunk to help with grasping, feeding and drinking (it can hold up to 7.57 liters [2 gallons of water]), defense, and communication. Asian elephants have a singular projection, whereas African elephants have two. In addition, African elephants travel in much larger packs than Asian elephants, and they have a more rigid social structure.
Natural history
Form and function
Asian elephants range in size from 2,000 to 6,800 kg (about 4,400 to 15,000 pounds), with the largest males reportedly standing up to about 3.7 meters (12 feet) tall. They have grey skin, though certain parts can lose pigment as they age, such as around the face and trunk. Young Asian elephants have brown to red hair covering their body, which darkens and decreases with age. It has sensitive skin, and protects itself from pests and sun by covering its skin with soil or sand. The elephant’s ears help to cool its body: its ears contain several blood vessels, and when it flaps its ears, it can cool the blood in its veins through forced convection, which then helps to cool the elephant’s large brain (which weighs between 4 and 6 kg [about 9 to 13 pounds]) and the rest of its body. Female Asian elephants lack tusks, and not all males possess them. Of the three Asian elephant subspecies—Elephas maximus indicus (which inhabits mainland Asia), E. maximus sumatranus (Indonesia), and E. maximus maximus (Sri Lanka)—more than 90 percent of the males the Sri Lankan subspecies lack tusks, possibly due to the selective effects of poaching and domestication.
Diet and movement
Asian elephants are herbivores, and they can eat hundreds of kilograms of food in a day. They also defecate more than a dozen times a day, and their feces can spread seeds from the fruit they consume as they travels across their habitat. They needs to drink large quantities of water per day to stay hydrated. They mostly eat grasses and other fibrous plant materials, and more than two-thirds of their day can be spent feeding. They can also eat crops, such as bananas, rice, and sugarcane, which can lead to human-elephant conflict with farmers. The only natural predator of any consequence is the Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris) which sometimes preys on calves.
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Class: Mammalia
- Order: Proboscidea
- Family: Elephantidae
- Genus: Elephas
Endangered Species
Asian elephants can vocalize over long distances to warn each other of predators. They can also communicate via scent and physical touch. They will also travel to find food and shelter. Data from the Smithsonian National Zoo found that they typically walk less than 6.4 km (about 4 miles) each day, traveling in a circuit around their home range; however, some animals have been observed walking up to 20 km (12.4 miles) per day. The sizes of home ranges can vary greatly between individuals, ranging from 15 to 800 square km (6 to 309 square miles), and the differences in area stem from the quantity and quality of food available and whether the range is occupied by other Asian elephants. In one notable case, a herd of about 15 Asian elephants wandered some 500 km (300 miles) from a conservatory bordering Laos and Myanmar in Southwest China into residential areas across China’s Yunnan Province.
Reproduction
Asian elephants are polygynous. Physiologically, males of breeding age enter a condition called musth, in which their testosterone rises and they compete aggressively with one another for breeding opportunities. Only the most dominant male elephants mate with multiple females in a given breeding season, and the species can breed year round. To attract males, breeding females produce an infrasonic vocalization. Courtship often involves trunk-to-body and trunk-to-trunk touching, with mating taking place multiple times for several days. Female elephants generally give birth to one offspring every four to five years—the lengthy period between births attributed to the elephant’s long gestation period (about 22 months) combined with the mother nursing offspring for as long as four years. Asian elephants are social animals, with small herds of related females and sexually immature males. Male elephants usually leave the herd at puberty. Asian elephants can live up to 70 years old, with both sexes reaching sexual maturity between 8 and 15 years of age.
Conservation status
Asian elephants have been under threat for several decades. The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) has classified the Asian elephant as an endangered species since 1986. A range of population surveys and studies estimate that somewhere between about 30,000 to 50,000 Asian elephants remain in the wild, with most, some 60 percent, residing in India. An estimated one third of the global population is held in captivity, used as work animals for jobs such as logging. Poaching, illegal trade, collisions with moving trains, habitat loss, and habitat fragmentation have taken a toll on the species, and together they have contributed to a 50-percent decline in the elephant’s population over the most recent three generations (which span, roughly speaking, a period of 60 to 75 years). Notably, poachers target male Asian elephants for their ivory, which, along with ivory taken from African elephants, helps to propel the illegal ivory trade. Habitat loss has also brought conflict between the elephants and people, as hungry animals consume and damage fruits and grains in croplands, which according to some sources result in the deaths of more than 100 elephants and scores of people annually.