Indian elephant
The Indian elephant is one of three extant recognized subspecies of the Asian elephant, native to mainland Asia. The species is smaller than the African elephant species with a convex back and the highest body point on its head. The species exhibits significant sexual dimorphism with a male reaching an average shoulder height of about and weighing whereas a female reaches an average shoulder height of about and weighs. It has a broader skull with a concave forehead, two large laterally folded ears and a large trunk. It has smooth grey skin with four large legs and a long tail.
The Indian elephant is native to mainland Asia with nearly three-fourth of the population found in India. The species is also found in other countries of the Indian subcontinent including Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar and South East Asian countries including Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam with small populations in China. It inhabits grasslands, dry deciduous, moist deciduous, evergreen and semi-evergreen forests across the range. The species is classified as a megaherbivore and consume up to of plant matter per day. They consume a variety of diet depending on the habitat and seasons and might include leaves and twigs of fresh foliage, thorn-bearing shoots, flowering plants, fruits and grass.
Since 1986, the Asian elephant has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List as the wild population has declined by at least 50% over the last three elephant generations. The species is threatened by environmental degradation, habitat loss and fragmentation. Poaching of elephants for ivory is a serious threat in some parts of Asia. Project Elephant was launched in 1992 by the Government of India to protect elephant habitats and population.
The Indian elephant is a cultural symbol throughout its range and appears in various religious traditions and mythologies. The elephants are treated positively and is revered as a form of Ganesha in Hinduism. It has been designated the national heritage animal in India and is the national animal of Thailand and Laos.
Taxonomy
The Indian elephant is one of three extant recognized subspecies of the Asian elephant. Carl Linnaeus proposed the scientific name Elephas maximus in 1758 for an elephant from Ceylon. Elephas indicus was proposed by Georges Cuvier in 1798, who described an elephant from India. Frederick Nutter Chasen classified all three as subspecies of the Asian elephant in 1940.Description
In general, the Asian elephant is smaller than African elephant. Its back is convex or level with the highest body point on its head. The species exhibits significant sexual dimorphism with a male reaching an average shoulder height of about and weighing up to whereas a female reaches an average shoulder height of about and weighs up to, with specimens rarely exceeding and in males and in females. The largest Indian elephant was high at the shoulder. On average, it measures in length including the trunk.It has a broader skull with a concave forehead and two dorsal bulges on the top. Two large laterally folded ears and a large trunk with one finger-like process are attached to the head. It has 20 pairs of ribs and 34 vertebrae. There are four large legs which are almost straight with broader toes and with five nail like structures on each foreleg and four on each of the hind-legs. The large legs help support the larger weight for longer periods without spending much energy with the broad feet helping to cushion against hard surfaces. It has a long tail measuring on average in length. The skin color is generally grey and lighter than that of E. m. maximus but darker than that of E. m. sumatranus. The skin is generally smoother than that of the African species and might consist of smaller patches of white depigmentation or grey spots. The body is covered by brownish to reddish hairs which reduce and darken with age. The female is usually smaller than the male with short or no tusks. There are about 29 narrow cheek teeth.
Distribution and habitat
The Indian elephant is native to mainland Asia with nearly three-fourth of the population found in India. The species is also found in other countries of the Indian subcontinent including Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and South East Asian countries including Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam with small populations in China. It is regionally extinct in Pakistan. It inhabits grasslands, dry deciduous, moist deciduous, evergreen and semi-evergreen forests. The total estimated wild population ranges from 23,000 to 41,000 individuals across the range. As per the 2017 census, the estimated wild population in India was 27,312 individuals which account for nearly three-fourths of the extant population.The movement and habitat utilization patterns of an elephant population were studied in southern India during 1981–83 within a study area. The vegetation types of this area encompasses dry thorn forest at, deciduous forest at, stunted evergreen forest and grassland at. Five different elephant clans, each consisting of between 50 and 200 individuals, had home ranges of between and, which overlapped. They preferred habitat where water was available and food plants were palatable. During the dry months of January to April, they congregated at high densities of up to five individuals per km2 in river valleys, where they browsed plants that had a much higher protein content than the coarse tall grasses on hill slopes. With the onset of rains in May, they dispersed over a wider area at lower densities, largely into the tall grass forests, to feed on the fresh grasses, which then had a high protein value. During the second wet season from September to December, when the tall grasses became fibrous, they moved into lower elevation short grass open forests. The normal movement pattern could be upset during years of adverse environmental conditions. However, the movement pattern of elephants in this region has not basically changed for over a century, as inferred from descriptions recorded during the 19th century. In Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, three elephant clans had overall home ranges of, and in the beginning of the 1990s. During three years of survey, their annual home ranges overlapped to a large extent with only minor shifts in the home ranges between years.
There are about 138 identified elephant corridors in India, with the majority of the elephant population in India restricted to four general areas.
| Region | Areas | Corridors | Area | Elephant population | Percentage of elephant population |
| North-East | From the eastern border of Nepal in northern West Bengal through western Assam along the Himalaya foothills as far as the Mishmi Hills, extending into eastern Arunachal Pradesh, the plains of upper Assam, and the foothills of Nagaland, to the Garo Hills of Meghalaya through the Khasi Hills, to parts of the lower Brahmaputra plains and Karbi Plateau; isolated herds occur in Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur, and in the Barak Valley districts of Assam | 58 | 41,000 | 10,139 | 33.8% |
| East | In Odisha, Jharkhand, and in the southern part of West Bengal, with some animals wandering into Chhattisgarh | 54 | 23,500 | 3,128 | 10.4% |
| North | At the foot of the Himalayas in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, ranging from Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary to the Yamuna River | 8 | 5,500 | 2,085 | 7.0% |
| South | Eight populations are fragmented from each other in northern Karnataka, in the crestline of Karnataka–Western Ghats, in Bhadra–Malnad, in Brahmagiri–Nilgiris–Eastern Ghats, in Nilambur–Silent Valley–Coimbatore, in Anamalai–Parambikulam, in Periyar–Srivilliputhur, and one in Agasthyamalai | 46 | 40,000 | 14,612 | 48.8% |
Apart from India, following is the distribution and estimated population of Indian elephants across Asia.
- 100–125 in Nepal, where their range is restricted to a few protected areas in the Terai along the border with India. In 2002, estimates ranged from 106 to 172 resident and migratory elephants, with most of them in Bardia National Park
- 150–250 in Bangladesh, where only isolated populations survive in the Chittagong Hills
- 250–500 in Bhutan, where their range is limited to protected areas in the south along the border with India
- 4,000–5,000 in Myanmar, where populations are highly fragmented, and occur in the northern ranges and Arakan Yoma in the west, Pegu Yoma of central Myanmar, Tenasserim and Shan State
- 2,500–3,200 in Thailand, mainly in the mountains along the border with Myanmar, with smaller fragmented populations occurring in the peninsula in the south
- 2,100–3,100 in Malaysia
- 500–1,000 Laos, where they remain widely but patchily distributed in forested areas, both in the highlands and lowlands
- 200–250 in China, where they survive only in the prefectures of Xishuangbanna, Simao, and Lincang of southern Yunnan
- 250–600 in Cambodia, where they primarily inhabit the mountains of the south-west and in Mondulkiri and Ratanakiri Provinces
- 70–150 in the southern parts of Vietnam
Behavior and ecology
Diet and feeding
Elephant is classified as a megaherbivore and can consume up to of plant matter per day. It can spend up to 19 hours a day foraging for food and can produce up to 220 pounds of dung per day. It is a generalist feeder and both a grazer and a browser. In a study area of in southern India, elephants were recorded to feed on 112 different plant species, most commonly of the order Malvales, and the legume, palm, sedge and true grass families. They graze on the tall grasses, but the portion consumed varies with season. When the new flush appears in April, they remove the tender blades in small clumps. Later, when grasses are higher than, they uproot entire clumps, dust them and consume the fresh leave tops, but discard the roots. When grasses are mature in autumn, they clean and consume the succulent basal portions with the roots, and discard the fibrous blades. From the bamboos, they eat seedlings, culms and lateral shoots. During the dry season from January to April, they mainly browse on both leaves and twigs preferring the fresh foliage, and consume thorn bearing shoots of acacia species without any obvious discomfort. They feed on the bark of white thorn and other flowering plants, and consume the fruits of wood apple, tamarind, kumbhi and date palm.During a study in a tropical moist mixed deciduous forested area of in Assam, elephants were observed to feed on about 20 species of grasses, plants and trees. Grasses such as Imperata cylindrica and Leersia hexandra constituted the most predominant component of their diet. In Nepal's Bardia National Park, elephants consume large amounts of the floodplain grass, particularly during the monsoon season. They browse more in the dry season with bark constituting a major part of their diet.