An Asian elephant in a forested landscape.

Asian elephant (*Elephas maximus*) in a forested landscape.

Creator: Yathin S Krishnappa

Licence: CC BY-SA 3.0

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Species record

Asian Elephant

Elephas maximus

Explore the Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus) species record in The Ark Is Earth, including classification, habitat, distribution, conservation information, and sources.

Summary

The Asian Elephant is a large herbivorous mammal of Asian forests and grasslands, including India and Thailand. Its trunk functions in feeding, drinking, communication, and handling objects, while family groups travel widely in search of vegetation and water. By dispersing seeds and altering vegetation it is an ecosystem engineer, but it is listed as Endangered because of habitat loss and conflict with people.

Classification in this archive

  1. Kingdom: Animals
  2. Phylum: Chordates
  3. Subphylum: Vertebrates
  4. Class: Mammals
  5. Order: Proboscidea
  6. Family: Elephantidae
  7. Genus: Elephas
  8. Species: Elephas maximus

Habitat and distribution

Selected documented locations — not a complete species range.

Habitat
forest, grassland
Selected regions
Asia
Selected countries
Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam

Conservation status

The Ark records: Endangered.

Did you know?

  • An Asian elephant can use its trunk to grasp many kinds of food.
  • Asian elephants live in family groups led by experienced females.

More images

A close view of an Asian elephant.

Close view of an Asian elephant (*Elephas maximus*).

Creator: Carlos Delgado

Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0

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An Asian elephant bathing in the Tad Lo river in Laos.

Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) bathing in the Tad Lo river, Laos.

Creator: Basile Morin — Wikimedia Commons. [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).

Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0

View image source

Sources and attribution