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

Historic range

• Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, eastward through Persia
• Indian subcontinent
• South and Southeast Asia
• China, up to the Yangtze-Kiang

Current populations

• Indian subcontinent (India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh)
• Continental Southeast Asia (China, Myanmar, Thailand, Kampuchea, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia)
• Asian islands (Andaman Islands, Sri Lanka, Sumatra, Borneo)

Presently occupy only 15% of historic range
India has 60% of remaining wild populations
E. m. borneensis occupied Borneo in prehistoric times; not imported from India

Primary habitat types

• Tropical and subtropical broadleaf forests
• Move through vegetation zones seasonally; often found along rivers in dry months
• Prefer transitional zones between two ecological communities (forests and grasslands)
• In Southern India: hilly dry scrub through deciduous forest to wet evergreen forest
• Northeastern India and Burma: swampy grasslands on river floodplains; moist deciduous forest on Himalayan slopes
• Sri Lanka: mainly dry deciduous woodland, scrub, grassland, and marshes; small population in rainforest
• India's Andaman Islands: swim across sea between various islands

Comparison to African elephants

• Require more access to shade than African elephants
• Inhabit more low visibility habitats compared to African elephants

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)