Asian Elephant

Asian elephant facts

• Asian elephants are more closely related to the extinct woolly mammoth than to the African elephant.
• The elephant’s tusks are elongated teeth (upper incisors) and tend to be larger in Asian bull elephants than in the African.
• The four grinding teeth (molars) wear out and are replaced by new teeth from the back of the jaws; the Asian elephant gets through six sets of teeth during its lifetime.

What do Asian elephants eat?

Vegetation, fruit, twigs, small branches, bark and roots.

Where do Asian elephants live? 

India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia and Southern China.

Asian elephant threats

Habitat loss, degradation, fragmentation and poaching.

Our Asian elephants

Our Asian elephant family of seven are helping inform elephant conservation work in the field, by providing insights into elephant behaviour and calibrate the latest conservation technology. The knowledge our Zookeepers gain working with our herd of Asian elephants is shared with our Nepalese ZSL colleagues to inform their research and education work with wild elephants. 

Asian elephant conservation 

We're working in Thailand, Nepal and China to reduce human-wildlife conflict and ensure the peaceful coexistence of elephants and humans.