Asiatic Elephant

The Asiatic elephant (Elephas maximus), also known as the Asian elephant, is the only living species of the genus Elephas and is distributed throughout the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, from India in the west, Nepal in the north, Sumatra in the south, and to Borneo in the east. Three subspecies are recognised --- E. m. maximus from Sri Lanka, E. m. indicus from mainland Asia and E. m. sumatranus from the island of Sumatra.

About
The Asiatic elephant is the largest living land animal in Asia. Since 1986, the Asian elephant has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, as the population has declined by a least 50 percent over the last three elephant generations, which is about 60-75 years. It is primarily threatened by loss of habitat, habitat degradation, fragmentation and poaching.

Conservation
The Asian elephant is listed on CITES Appendix I. It is a quintessential flagship species, deployed to catalyze a range of conservation goals, including habitat conservation at land scape scales, generating public awareness on conservation issues, and mobilisation as a popular cultural icon both in India and the west.

Captivity
About half of a global zoo elephant population is kept in European zoos, where they have about half the median life span of conspecifics in protected populations in range countries. This discrepancy is clearest in Asian elephants: infant mortality is twice that seen in Burmese timber camps, and adult survivorship in zoos has not improved significantly in recent years. One risk factor for Asian zoo elephants is being moved between institutions, with early removal from the mother tending to have additional adverse effects. Another risk factor is being born into a zoo rather than being imported into the wild, with poor adult survivorship in zoo-born Asians apparently being conferred prenatally or in early infancy.