About the Indian Elephant:

The Indian elephant (Elephas maximus indicus) is a one of three subspecies or races of the Asian elephant ''Elephas maximus".  The other two subspecies of the Asian elephant are E. m. sumatranus on Sumatra and E. m. maximus on Sri Lanka. The Indian elephant for example, is larger, has longer front legs and a thinner body than the Asian elephant found in Thailand.

Through adaptive radiation, elephants until the Pleistocene Era (2 million years ago) had spread throughout the world except for Australia, New Zealand and Antarctica.  Their sheer size was a factor in allowing this wide radiation and they could be found in a wide variety of habitats from desert to high mountain forest areas.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS:

Elephants in general are the largest existing land mammals and they have the biggest brains in the animal kingdom (weighing 5 kg or 11 lbs).

In general, the Asian elephant weighs between 3-5 tons (6,615-11,025lb); however the smaller Sumatran subspecies weight range begins at 2 tons (4,000lb).  By contrast, the African elephant weighs between 4-7 tons (8,820-15,435lb).  An Asian elephants height at the shoulder is between 6.6-11.5ft (2-3.5m).  By contrast the African elephant stands 9.8-13.1ft (3-4m).

The Asian elephant has been captured, tamed and worked by people for more than 4,000 years; it stirs the human imagination like no other animal. They can easily move through swamps or climb mountainous terrain that is too difficult for a horse. Their hearts beat 28 times a minute.

The Trunk:  Elephants are endowed with versatile trunks, which have over 100,000 muscles units that make it extremely dexterous.  This incredible dexterity enables an elephant to pick up very small items and use their trunks for a wide variety of functions.  The trunk has no bones or cartilage except for a tiny bit of cartilage at the tip of the trunk which separates the nostrils; each nostril is lined with a membrane. The septum is a partition dividing the two nostril cavities and it is composed of tiny muscle units. There is a single finger at the tip of the Asian elephants trunk whereas the African elephant has two fingers.  Elephants do not use their trunks like a straw to drink through they suck water into the trunk and squirt it into their mouths. Females are usually smaller than males and can be easily distinguished by the two mammary glands located on the chest.

Hearing and Sight: One of the main visible distinctions between the Asian and African elephant is the size of their ears.  The Asian elephants ears do not exceed the height of the neck whereas the African elephants do.  All elephants have acute hearing far superior to humans and their large ears act amplifiers. There is a knuckle found at the back of the ear, which is one of the softest parts of their bodies; mahouts, using their feet will steer or give commands to the animal.  Elephants communication is rich in infrasound (ranging below what humans can hear) with sound traveling over many kilometers. These long distance infrasonic calls are used in times of stress, excitement, during separation and to relay sexual information. Elephants have have small eyes and poor eyesight so they can only see clearly up to about 30-40 feet (10m). Their sight tends to improve when they are in shaded areas. and have no canine teeth. 

POPULATION:

The latest estimate (June 2003) of the Asian elephant population is below 30,000.  The African species is estimated at approximately 500,000.

Indias elephant population is estimated between 10,000 and 15,000, the largest in Asia.  About half of these are found in the northeastern states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghaiaya located in far northeastern India.