Asian Elephant

Distribution:Asia

Habitat:Various

Height:Approx. 600cm

Weight:Up to 5000kg

Diet:Herbivorous

Common Name: Asian ElephantScientific Name: Elephas maximus

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Asian Elephants are much smaller than their Africancounterparts. They are, on average, 3m (10ft) tall and 6m (25ft)long. The males can weigh up to 5000kg, which is about thesame as 62 men! They also have much smaller ears too. Africanelephants have large rounded ears whereas Asian elephantshave smaller squared ears.

The Asian Elephant was once found throughout India andSouth-east Asia. Now it is restricted to small areas of India,Indo-China, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia and SouthernChina. In these countries they live in various habitats includingtropical rainforest, tropical deciduous forest and mountains.

Asian Elephants are one if the largest herbivorous mammals inthe world. In the wild their diet consists mainly of grasses,leaves, trees and shrubs. At Twycross Zoo there are fedcabbage, bread, apples, bananas, carrots, leaves and amanufactured dry food to make sure they get all their vitamins.

Female elephants and their offspringare very social and live in ‘herds’. Eachherd has a ‘matriarchs’, a maturefemale leads the group. The‘matriarch’ will lead the group to thebest places to feed and drink andso passing on her knowledge tothe nest generation. Males usuallywander solitarily only meeting withthe females to mate

Asian elephants breed, onaverage, seven times during theirlifetime at intervals of between 4and 6 years. After mating thefemale is pregnant for 20 – 22months (almost 2 years). The calf willthen suckle for up to 3 years (up to 5years in captivity). If it is a female thenit will remain in the group for its lifetime.