Asian Elephant Facts
- According to the World Wildlife Fund for Nature, only 25,600 – 32,750 Asian elephants are left in the wild.
- Asian elephants are smaller than African elephants.
- Their height at the shoulder is usually 2-3m and weight ranges from 2,000-5,000kgs. A baby elephant can weigh 100kgs and stand 1m tall at birth.
- Twice the circumference on an elephant’s front foot will equal its height at the shoulder.
- Only some male Asian elephants have tusks, females have tushes which are large incisor teeth.
- Asian elephants have one finger-like appendage on the end of their trunks. African elephants have two.
- Wild elephants spend 18-20 hours a day foraging and eating.
- They only need 4 of hours sleep per night.
- Pregnancy may last up to 22 months and a baby may nurse for 3 years.
- Females and babies live together in family groups averaging 6 to 7 adults.
- Elephants mourn the death of another elephant.
- They are very good swimmers.
- An elephant’s life cycle is very similar to humans’ with their prime years being between 25 and 40.
- Elephants can live into their seventies, and there are even a few cases of elephants living into their eighties.
- Mature male elephants experience musth, usually once per year for a period of a few weeks. In this period, characterized by high testosterone levels, elephants may become aggressive and sometimes more sexually active.
- During musth, a gland above the eye creates an oily secretion called temporin which can be seen running down the face.
- Asian elephants are more closely related to the extinct mammoth than their African cousins.
- Like humans, apes, and dolphins, elephants can recognize themselves in mirrors.