Asian elephant facts

Last updated 8 October 2026

The Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) is the only elephant species in Asia. Adults weigh about 2,750 to 5,420 kg on average, have smaller rounded ears than African elephants, a domed back and one finger like tip on the trunk, and usually only males grow visible tusks. It survives in isolated populations across 13 countries from India to Borneo, and the IUCN lists it as Endangered, with roughly 48,000 to 52,000 left in the wild according to the latest Red List assessment.

How to recognize an Asian elephant

Compared with African elephants, Asian elephants have smaller, rounded ears, a domed or level back, smoother skin, two domes on top of the head and a single finger like projection on the tip of the trunk. Older animals often show pale, pinkish patches of depigmented skin on the ears, face and trunk; the Smithsonian notes that this develops with age and is thought to depend on genetics, nutrition and habitat. See the full African vs Asian elephant comparison.

San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance recognizes three subspecies: the Indian elephant (E. m. indicus), the Sri Lankan elephant (E. m. maximus) and the Sumatran elephant (E. m. sumatranus). The status of the elephants of Borneo is still being studied.

Tusks, tushes and makhnas

Tusks are upper incisors that grow throughout life. In Asian elephants, only some males grow large tusks. Most females and some males have tushes, small brittle tusks that seldom protrude more than an inch or two past the lip, and a significant number of adult males have no tusks at all; in South Asia these tuskless bulls are called makhnas. The Smithsonian reports that fewer than 10% of males in Sri Lanka have tusks, compared with about 90% in India, a difference that may reflect the intensity of past ivory hunting.

Where Asian elephants live

Asian elephants once ranged from western Asia across the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia and into China as far north as the Yangtze. Today they survive in isolated pockets in 13 countries. They are mainly forest animals but prefer areas where forest mixes with open grassy glades, and in the dry season they often stay near rivers. The Smithsonian's tracking of collared elephants in Myanmar found they typically walked less than 1 to 4 miles (1.6 to 6.4 km) a day, within home ranges that vary hugely in size depending on food and water.

Diet

Asian elephants spend about three quarters of each day eating or moving to food and water, with main feeding bouts in the early morning, afternoon and night. They digest only about 44% of what they eat, so an adult needs around 74 to 150 kg of food and about 189 liters of water a day in the wild, according to the Smithsonian. Grasses are a staple, along with leaves, roots, vines, twigs, shoots, bark and fruit. Crops such as bananas and sugar cane are a favorite, which is a major source of conflict with farmers.

Family life

Females live in small herds with their daughters and young sons. The Smithsonian notes that Asian elephants do not have a clear matriarch in the way African elephants do, although some females take a more dominant role. Males leave their birth herd at puberty, usually between 8 and 13 years old, and become more solitary as they age. From about age 30, healthy bulls enter musth each year, a period of surging testosterone, aggression and fluid secretion from the temporal glands. More on the behavior page.

Population and status

The IUCN lists the Asian elephant as Endangered. Its 2020 Red List assessment collated national estimates totalling about 48,323 to 51,680 wild Asian elephants as of 2018, while warning that some national figures are based on interviews or expert opinion rather than surveys. India holds the largest share, and the IUCN notes that only four other countries (Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar and Sri Lanka) have more than 2,000 wild elephants.

In October 2025, India published its first DNA based national estimate: about 22,446 elephants, with a 95% confidence range of 18,255 to 26,645. The government said this is a new baseline and should not be compared directly with the 2017 count of 27,312, because the methods differ. The IUCN Red List assessment has not yet been updated with this figure, so global totals that include it are not yet available.

The main threats are habitat loss and fragmentation, conflict with people over crops and space, and poaching of tusked males for ivory and meat. The IUCN reports that in India alone, conflict causes more than 400 human deaths and more than 100 elephant deaths each year. Captive elephants are another issue: thousands are kept in Asia, many for tourism. See how to see elephants ethically and elephant conservation.