Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus) Fact Sheet: Distribution & Habitat

General

• Highly patchy distribution compared to historic range (see below)
  • Most of global population found in India and Myanmar (Songer et al. 2016)
• Difficult to observe/count, despite being large animals
  • Distribution not well known, especially on islands of Southeast Asia (Nowak 2018)
• Some individuals moved by humans to locations outside their natural range (Nowak 2018)
  • Extensive trade between India, Sri Lanka, and other areas in Asia

Current distribution of E. maximus

(Nowak 2018; Williams et al. 2020, and as noted. Also see Olivier (1978a) and IUCN/SSC Asian Elephant Specialist Group (2022).

• Indian subcontinent
  • India
    • India has about 50% of remaining individuals from wild populations (Bist 2002; Baskaran et al. 2011; Williams et al. 2020; IUCN/SSC Asian Elephant Specialist Group 2022)
  • Nepal
  • Bhutan
  • Bangladesh
• Continental Southeast Asia
  • Myanmar (Burma)
  • Thailand
  • Laos
  • Vietnam
  • Cambodia
  • Malaysia
  • China
    • Small population; most present in two natural reserves only (Zhang et al. 2015; Liu et al. 2017)
    • Range increasingly restricted due to deforestation, climate change, and human disturbance (Liu et al. 2016; Li et al. 2019; Chen et al. 2023; Lin et al. 2023)
• Islands
  • Sri Lanka (Fernando et al. 2011)
  • Indonesia
    • Significant populations thought to occur in Sumatra (Williams et al. 2020)
  • Borneo
  • Andaman Islands, India (Ali 2005; Baskaran et al. 2011)
    • Introduced for labor in forestry industry

See Williams et al. (2020) for notes on range restrictions/fragmentation within each country, and Olivier (1978) for a rich cultural history discussion. Also see Habitat loss.

Elevation range

• Sea level to over 3,000 m (10,000 ft) (Choudhury 1999)
  • At a few sites in the Eastern Himalayan mountains, known to move above 3,000 m (10,000 ft) during summer (Wittemyer 2011)

Historic distribution

• Presently occupy only 15% of historic range (Wittemyer 2011)
• Once ranged from the Middle East (Tigris and Euphrates Rivers), along the Iranian coast to West Asia, and eastwards into Southeast Asia (including Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and China, as far north as the Yangtze River) (Olivier 1978a; Lobban and De Liedekerke 2000; Wittemyer 2011; Menon and Tiwari 2019; Williams et al. 2020)
  • Extinct in Pakistan, West Asia, Java, and most of China
  • Western populations probably extinct by 100 BC
  • Captured for labor and military use depleted wild populations historically (e.g., Indus Valley, central India) (Sukumar 2003)
• Iraq, Syria, and southeastern Turkey (e.g., Bökönyi 1985; Sukumar 2003; Albayrak and Lister 2012)
  • Present until approximately 3,000–3,500 years ago
  • Ivory and recreation hunting caused severe population declines in Syria and Mesopotamia (Lobban and De Liedekerke 2000)
• Indian subcontinent
  • Occupy only 3.5% of historic distribution in India (Sukumar and Santiapillai 1996; Sukumar 2011; Nowak 2018)
  • Once ranged across India; now extirpated from many northern, central, and western regions (Olivier 1978a)
    • However, habitat loss has driven elephants to expand their range in South Bengal since 1950 (Singh et al. 2023)
  • Once ranged throughout Sri Lanka, prior to human agriculture and forest clearing (Fernando et al. 2011)
    • Thousands of elephants shot in Sri Lanka during colonial period (approximately 1500 to 1950); considered “vermin” to commercial agriculture (see Fernando et al. 2011)
• South and Southeast Asia
  • China (Tong and Patou-Mathis 2003; Elvin 2004; Liu et al. 2016; Nowak 2018)
    • Main Chinese populations disappeared sometime after the 14th century BCE
    • Large and continuous distribution 4,000 years ago, south of the Yellow River
      • Common in Yellow River Valley until about 3,000 years ago
    • Present in Yangtze River Valley until about 2,300 years ago

Wide range of habitats

• Mainly limited to edge regions between forests and grasslands (transition zones, or ecotones) (McKay 1973; Olivier 1978b; Shoshani and Eisenberg 1982; Rood et al. 2010; Wittemyer 2011; Nowak 2018)
  • Common in lowlands near abundant food and water (Pradhan and Wegge 2007; Rood et al. 2010)
  • Can spend significant time in forests but benefit from moderate amounts of open, non-forested areas (e.g., Sukumar 2003)
  • On islands, may live close to the coast (Shoshani and Eisenberg 1982)
• Large elephant populations in India and Sri Lanka mainly live in grassland habitats (Sukumar 1989)
• Some Asian elephants prefer more open forests where bushes (forage) are more abundant (Tripathy et al. 2021), but some prefer dense forests (Abdullah et al. 2021)
  • Use broadleaf and montane forests (Wittemyer 2011)
  • Some alternate between primary and secondary forests (Abdullah et al. 2021)
• Use vegetation near rivers (riparian habitat) and rainforest, especially during dry season (Kumar et al. 2010)
• Usually stay near shade and sources of freshwater (Lakshminarayanan et al. 2016; Nowak 2018; Abdullah et al. 2021; Wilson et al. 2021)
  • Asian elephants require more access to shade, compared to African elephants
  • Use forest pools and rivers for bathing and to stay cool (Krishnan 1972)
  • Some may enter cultivated land to drink from tanks or ponds (see below) (Krishnan et al. 2019)
• Historically found in a wider range of habitat types (Nowak 2018)
  • Grassy plains, tropical and evergreen forests, moist deciduous forest, dry deciduous and thorn forest, cultivated and secondary forests, scrublands
  • Optimal habitats not well known due to widespread human modification of landscapes (Williams et al. 2020)

Seasonal changes

• Move through vegetation zones seasonally (Pradhan and Wegge 2007), though also known to show site fidelity (e.g., Desai 1991; Baskaran and Desai 1995)
  • Alternate between browsing and grazing, depending on food availability and season
  • Often found near rivers or water holes in dry months

Slope preferences

• Appear to prefer flatter, less rugged terrains at lower elevations (P. Sharma et al. 2020; Abdullah et al. 2021; Wilson et al. 2021) close to water sources (e.g., Alfred et al. 2012)
  • Adept at climbing hills (Krishnan 1972)
    • Can live in mountainous regions, though very rugged terrain constrains movements (McKay 1973; Rood et al. 2010, Wilson et al. 2021)
• Similar landscape preferences to those of humans, bringing humans and elephants into closer contact (compete for space) (e.g., Wilson et al. 2021)

Use of human-altered habitats

• Amount of remaining unfragmented wild habitat decreasing quickly, particularly due to deforestation (e.g., Leimgruber et al. 2003)
  • Little intact habitat protected
• Elephants have lived near human habitats for thousands of years; can survive in developed areas (Santiapillai 1997)
• Commonly use areas near large human populations (Sukumar 1989)
  • But may prefer areas of low human disturbance for resting, feeding, and socializing (Sukumar 1989; Fernando et al. 2008; Srinivasaiah et al. 2012)
  • Human–elephant conflict difficult to prevent when using the same landscape areas (Krishnan et al. 2019; De La Torre et al. 2021; also see de Silva et al. 2023)
    • Also see Conflict with humans
• Use cultivated and secondary forests (Kumar et al. 2010; Wittemyer 2011; Nowak 2018; Williams et al. 2020)
  • Use plantations (e.g., tea, coffee, eucalyptus, oil palm in Sumatra) for shade and to eat grass growing under trees (Kumar et al. 2010)
  • de la Torre et al. (2021) found that elephants preferred human-altered habitats/vegetation but specifically near mature forests
• Krishnan et al. (2019) and De La Torre et al. (2021) state that human-dominated habitats are prime, rather than marginal, elephant habitats
  • Some elephants spent significant time in human-altered habitats
  • Cultivated plants may be more nutritious to elephants than wild plants (e.g., Sukumar 1990)
• Generally prefer habitats far away from roads [India, Nepal] (Krishnan et al. 2019; P. Sharma et al. 2020), though may forage alongside roads (see Feeding)

Asian elephant distribution.

Adapted from www.d-maps.com, according to IUCN fact sheet. Click here or on map for detailed distribution (IUCN).

Kurt (1990)
Santiapillai & Jackson (1990)
Sukumar (1989, 2008)