Asian Elephants

Why are Asian elephants important?

Many forests in Asia depend on elephants for seed dispersal and creating trails and clearings through which seedlings can grow. With vegetation growth, more carbon can be sequestered, helping mitigate the impacts of climate change.

The habitats created by Asian elephants also help support numerous species. Before decomposing and delivering essential nutrients to the soil, Asian elephant dung has also been shown to be an important habitat for invertebrates and frogs.

How to recognise an Asian elephant

All elephants have a number of distinctive physical characteristics, the first being their versatile trunk, adapted to picking up food, greeting other elephants, drawing water, breathing and producing sound. Asian elephants are smaller than their African cousins, but are still the largest land mammal in Asia.

The ears of the Asian elephant are smaller and more rounded than the African elephant, and, whereas both male and female African elephants can have tusks, only some male Asian elephants have large tusks. Females and some males instead have tushes – short tusks that rarely protrude beyond the lower lip. Male Asian elephants are considerably larger than the female, but they both continue to grow throughout their lives, with the rate slowing down as they get older. Asian elephants are generally more hairy than African elephants.

Where do Asian elephants live?

Asian elephants inhabit deciduous and wet tropical forests and grassland habitats across their range. As such a large mammal, they need around 150kg of plant matter and 100 litres of water a day, meaning large habitats are ranged to find the resources they need. They follow migratory routes to feeding grounds and water and are good swimmers, able to swim between islands to get to different habitats and food.

Asian elephant behaviour

Elephants are highly social animals with extremely complex behaviours. Asian Elephants live in herds, typically of around 8-12 individuals although this number can be much higher, that are presided over by a dominant female, known as the matriarch. The matriarch, using information passed on by her mother, guides and protects the family, which consists of her sisters, daughters, female cousins and calves. The matriarch’s knowledge of the home range and traditional water sources is vital to the herd’s survival.

Asian elephants have several ways of communicating. They have a large repertoire of vocalisations including low frequency rumbles, high pitched calls, trumpeting and snorts. They will also frequently use their trunks to communicate, caressing, twining, rubbing or gently touching each other. Their body position also indicate a lot about their feelings. A scared or apprehensive elephant may sway from side to side or raise their trunk to sniff the air.

Elephants have a 60 – 70 year life span, reaching maturity at 10-15 years. Pregnancy lasts 22 months and at birth the mother is often helped by other experienced females in the group. The newborn calf relies on its mother’s milk for up to four years and is watched over by the entire herd. Calves are very playful, especially with each other as they learn about their environment. Teenage males will leave the herd and become independent, sometimes forming bachelor groups, but being mostly solitary. The females, however, will stay with their herd for life.

Like African elephants, male Asian elephants will go through a period of ‘musth’ which involves a significant rise in the reproductive hormones that causes both physical and behavioural changes. Males may come into musth once or twice a year.