Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus) Fact Sheet: Population & Conservation Status

Population estimates

• Rigorous, range-wide population estimates still needed (Blake and Hedges 2004; Williams et al. 2020)
• Best available estimate
  • Approximately 48,000 to 52,000 wild individuals (Menon and Tiwari 2019; Williams et al. 2020)
• Largest populations
  • Thought to occur in India (60% of remaining wild Asian elephants), Sri Lanka (about 13 to 14% of global population), and Thailand (Bist 2002; Sukumar 2006; Baskaran et al. 2011; Fernando et al. 2011; Wittemyer 2011; de Silva et al. 2013; Menon and Tiwari 2019; Williams et al. 2020; ; IUCN/SSC Asian Elephant Specialist Group 2022)
• Small, highly threatened populations
  • Vietnam, Bangladesh, China, Nepal, and likely Cambodia (Menon and Tiwari 2019; Williams et al. 2020; IUCN/SSC Asian Elephant Specialist Group 2022)
    • Also fewer than 1,000 Asian elephants in Bhutan and Lao PDR (Menon and Tiwari 2019; Williams et al. 2020)
  • Sumatra (Gopala et al. 2011; Menon and Tiwari 2019)
    • Fewer than 1,800 individuals
    • Once widespread; now only remain in small, severely fragmented populations
    • 70% of potential habitat lost in one elephant generation due to conversion of forest to agriculture
• Several populations decreasing and ranges severely fragmented, particularly in Southeast Asia (Menon and Tiwari 2019; Williams et al. 2020)
  • E.g., Yunnan Province of China (Zhang et al. 2015; Liu et al. 2017; Chen et al. 2023; Lin et al. 2023), Myanmar (Songer et al. 2016), northeast India, Vietnam, Lao PDR, Malaysia, and Sumatra (Indonesia) (Pillay et al. 2011; Songer et al. 2016; Menon and Tiwari 2019; Williams et al. 2020; Fernando et al. 2021)

• Fewer than 1,000 individuals in roughly half (7 of 13) of the range countries where Asian elephants occur
• Populations in Asia in human care
  • About 15,000 elephants (Menon and Tiwari 2019; IUCN/SSC Asian Elephant Specialist Group 2022)
    • Concentrated in Myanmar, Thailand, Sri Lanka, and India
      • See IUCN/SSC Asian Elephant Specialist Group (2022) for country-specific estimates

Population structure

• Fragmentation trends
  • Asian elephant populations have become increasingly fragmented over the past 3,000 to 4,000 years (Fleischer et al. 2001; Sukumar 2003; Williams et al. 2020)
• Human-mediated migration
  • Trade of elephants has not substantially altered the Asian elephant’s range-wide population structure (Vidya et al. 2009)
• Closely related populations (genetically similar) [non-comprehensive]
  • Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and southern India (Sooriyabandara et al. 2023)
  • Malaysia and Indonesia (Fleischer et al. 2001)
• Regional variation
  • Some genetic structuring within Sri Lanka (Sooriyabandara et al. 2023)
    • May be due to habitat fragmentation
  • Two distinct genetic lineages in China (Fernando et al. 2000; Zhang et al. 2015)
• Genetic diversity
  • High genetic diversity reported in some studies (e.g., Thitaram et al. 2010; Ahlering et al. 2011)
  • Island (e.g., Borneo) and isolated populations on the mainland (e.g., China) generally have lower genetic diversity (Fernando et al. 2003; Zhang et al. 2015; Goossens et al. 2016) and are at greater risk of inbreeding depression (e.g., Nur et al. 2019)
    • Borneo elephant population less genetically diverse than mainland populations
      • Due to a small population size, recent geographic isolation, and a Pleistocene-era genetic bottleneck (Sharma et al. 2018)

IUCN

• Asian elephant, Elephas maximus
  • Endangered (2019 assessment) (Williams et al. 2020)
  • Population trend: decreasing
• Sumatran elephant subspecies (Elephas maximus sumatranus)
  • Critically Endangered (2011 assessment) (Gopala et al. 2011)
  • Population trend: decreasing

CITES

• Appendix I (UNEP 2023)
  • International ban on ivory among CITES nations approved in 1989 (Nowak 2018)

CMS (Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals)

• Appendix I (endangered migratory species) (CMS 2020)

Government laws and regulations

• India
  • Hunting, capture, and ivory trade prohibited (Bist 2002)
  • E. maximus occurs in protected areas and national parks (Choudhury 1999; Bist 2002)
  • 1972: Listed as an endangered species under Schedule I of Indian Wildlife Protection Act (Choudhury 1999; Kumar et al. 2010; Baskaran et al. 2011)
    • Prohibits killing or capture of elephants
    • Highest level of protection but difficult to enforce in remote areas
    • Amended in 1986 to prohibit ivory sales within India (Martin and Vigne 1989)
  • 1976: India joins CITES, making the export of Indian ivory illegal (Martin and Vigne 1989)
  • 1980: Forest (Conservation) Act passed to reduce deforestation rates (Bist 2002)
• Sri Lanka
  • Protected under federal law (Fauna and Flora Protection Ordinance) (Fernando et al. 2011; Fernando 2015; Sooriyabandara et al. 2023)
    • Illegal to kill wild elephants
  • E. maximus occurs in protected areas and national parks (Santiapillai et al. 1984; Santiapillai 1997; Fernando et al. 2011; Fernando et al. 2021; Rathnayake et al. 2022)
• Myanmar (Burma)
  • Protected under the Conservation of Biodiversity and Protected Area Law enacted (2018) (Thant et al. 2022)
    • Law enforcement and WWF Myanmar programs have helped to curb poaching in recent years
  • 1994: Moratorium on capture of wild elephants for use in industry (Sukumar 2003)
• Thailand
  • E. maximus occurs in wildlife sanctuaries and national parks (Santiapillai 1997)
  • 1970s: systematic captures from the wild stop (Sukumar 2003)
• Sumatra
  • E. maximus occurs in national parks (Santiapillai 1997)
• China
  • Federally protected since 1988 (Zhang et al. 2015; Campos‐Arceiz et al. 2021; Chen et al. 2021; Chen et al. 2023)
    • Number of elephants has increased since the 1970s
    • Government may create elephant movement corridors (Liu et al. 2017)
    • May establish an elephant national park (Chen et al. 2021)
• United States
  • 1976: Listed as Endangered by the US Department of the Interior (USFWS 1976)
  • 1997: US Congress passes Asian Elephant Conservation Act
    • Implemented by US Fish and Wildlife Service

Elephants in Asia in human care

• About 15,000 individuals throughout Asia (Sukumar 2006; Prajna Panda, personal communication, 2024)
  • Range countries: about 12,000 individuals (Prajna Panda, personal communication, 2024)
  • Non-range countries: about 3,000 individuals in unaccredited zoos (Prajna Panda, personal communication, 2024)

• Used for labor in forestry (e.g., hauling timber), transportation, circuses and tourism, and religious ceremonies (Bist 2002; Baskaran et al. 2011; Nowak 2018)
  • Not used for forestry or in circuses in India

• Owned by mahouts, tourism operations (sometimes called “camps”), federal forestry departments, unaccredited zoos, and other private owners (Godfrey and Kongmuang 2009; Prajna Panda, personal communication, 2024)
• Many individuals are female (Godfrey and Kongmuang 2009)
  • Considered more docile than male elephants

• E. maximus first tamed about 4,000 years ago—but not yet domesticated (Sukumar 2006)
• When too many individuals captured, can jeopardize sustainability of wild populations (e.g., Leimgruber et al. 2008)

Tourism

• Operations driven by visitors’ desire to see elephants (Sampson et al. 2022)
• Known in Thailand as “elephant camps” (Weston et al. 2021)
  • After Thailand’s government banned logging in 1989, many elephants that worked in logging at the time were transferred to the tourism industry (Godfrey and Kongmuang 2009)
• Where poor welfare practices, elephants may be injured, malnourished, handled poorly, or experience stressful social environments (Weston et al. 2021)

Poaching and trade, overview

• Asian elephants illegally hunted for ivory, skin and hair (for leather, jewelry, good luck charms, etc.), meat (for food), and other body parts to make various products (e.g., medicines, furniture) (e.g., Martin and Vigne 1989; Bist 2002; Menon 2002; Shepherd 2002; Nijman and Shepherd 2014; Hausheer 2018; Sampson et al. 2018; Williams et al. 2020)
  • See Government laws and regulations for discussion of country-specific capture bans
• Also captured in certain countries for use in ceremonies and as labor animals in forestry operations (Maurer et al. 2017; Williams et al. 2020)
• Less commonly, calves traded for use in tourism, primarily in Myanmar and India (Godfrey and Kongmuang 2009; Rangarajan et al. 2010; Nijman 2014; Williams et al. 2020)

Ivory trade

• Asian elephant ivory smuggling spans from the Middle East to East Asia, involving more than 15 countries (Menon 2002)
  • Highest trade and consumption in Asia
• Legal loopholes in some countries (e.g., Myanmar) allow governments to sell ivory from dead captive elephants, fueling ivory trafficking (Hausheer 2018)
• Hunting males for ivory tusks can cause declines in the number of males in a population (skewed sex ratios) and the average age of males (and thus, tusk size) (Sukumar et al. 1998; Baskaran et al. 2011; Baskaran 2013; Gupta et al. 2016; Nowak 2018; Budd et al. 2021)
  • In areas where tusked males are depleted, poachers may turn to hunting females for tushes and even tail hairs (Menon et al. 1997, as cited by Menon 2002)
• History (e.g., Martin and Vigne 1989; Barbier et al. 1990; Menon 2002)
  • In India, Asian elephants hunted from at least 4,000 years ago
    • Early ivory used to make figurines, jewelry, etc.
    • Later used in everything from combs to horse-riding equipment to gunpowder flasks to bed frames
  • Early-to-mid 1800s: import of African elephant tusks begins to replace depleted supply of Asian elephant tusks
  • Circa 1860: mass production of ivory carvings began, as craftspeople switched from making ivory objects for India’s rulers to buyers in Europe, the United States, Japan, China, and Hong Kong
  • 1980s: ivory market shifts from western countries to Asia; increasing regulation and scarcer supplies of African elephant ivory cause similar declines in markets for Asian elephant ivory

Skin and meat trades (emerging markets)

• Skin trade has increased rapidly since 2010, particularly in Southeast Asia—from Myanmar (Hausheer 2018; Sampson et al. 2018; Menon and Tiwari 2019; Williams et al. 2020) to Vietnam (Menon 2002; Sukumar 2006)
  • Meat trade also increasing (Sampson et al. 2018)
  • Unlike the ivory trade, skin and meat trades impact both Asian elephant sexes (Sampson et al. 2018; Williams et al. 2020)
  • May be a source of high income for rural villagers who live in poverty (see discussion in Thant et al. 2022)
• Elephants and their parts trafficked across Myanmar–China border (Menon 2002; Hausheer 2018; Sampson et al. 2018)
• In parts of India, some meat eaten by local peoples for subsistence (e.g., Choudhury 1999)
  • Consume meat from elephants that die from other causes; some tribes also kill elephants

Habitat loss: agricultural expansion

(e.g., Santiapillai and Jackson 1990; Jha et al. 2000; Leimgruber et al. 2003; Baskaran 2013; Goossens et al. 2016; Williams et al. 2020; Ram et al. 2021)

• Significant elephant habitat has been converted to agriculture (Sukumar 1989; Santiapillai and Jackson 1990; Liu et al. 2017; Chaiyarat et al. 2022)
  • Approximately 70% of historic Asian habitat converted since the 1930s (Menon and Tiwari 2019)
  • Land used for growing tea, coffee, spices, rubber, oil palm, teak, sugarcane, nut trees, vegetables, etc.
    • Also see Diet
• Elephants’ range increasingly restricted and habitat fragmented (see Habitat loss, above) (Leimgruber et al. 2003)
  • Major threats to Asian elephant survival (Kinnaird et al. 2003; Baskaran et al. 2011; Wittemyer 2011; Goswami and Vasudev 2017; Menon and Tiwari 2019; Saaban et al. 2020; Chen et al. 2021; Ram et al. 2021)
  • Habitat fragmentation intense in India, Laos, Vietnam, and Sumatra (Choudhury 1999; Sukumar 2006)
    • Also places where increasing economic development, such as Malaysia and Indonesia
• Elephant populations crowded into protected areas, which can increase conflict with humans in adjacent areas (e.g., Sukumar 1990; Williams et al. 2001; Goswami et al. 2015; Chen et al. 2016; Puyravaud et al. 2019; Fernando et al. 2021)
  • See Human–elephant conflict, below
• Conflict with farmers heightened where forest cover reduced and high human densities (Chartier et al. 2011; Songer et al. 2016; Berliani et al. 2018; Puyravaud et al. 2019; Thant et al. 2021)
• Barriers/disturbance to elephant movement (e.g., wildlife corridors between core habitat areas) can exacerbate human–elephant conflict (Johnsingh and Williams 1999; Menon et al. 2017; Tripathy et al. 2021)

Habitat loss: other causes

(e.g., Santiapillai and Jackson 1990; Leimgruber et al. 2003; Sukumar 2003; Williams et al. 2020)

• Land and urban development
• Construction of dams, reservoirs, and canals (Santiapillai 1997)
• Infrastructure projects, such as roads, railways, and oil pipelines
  • Restrict elephant movements and change home range areas (Johnsingh and Williams 1999; Pan et al. 2009; Goswami and Vasudev 2017; Sukumar et al. 2017; Wadey et al. 2018; Abhijitha et al. 2021)
  • Elephants cross and forage near roadways and railways
    • May be injured or killed by vehicles or trains
      • See Other threats, below
    • Proximity to roads also increases exposure to poachers (Wadey et al. 2018)
• Mining
• Human warfare (Menon 2002)
• Climate change (e.g., Kanagaraj et al. 2019; Li et al. 2019)
  • Drives land aridification, as well as loss of forest habitat and movement corridors
  • Kanagaraj et al. (2019) estimate that about 40% of the Asian elephant’s current habitat will be lost by 2100

Additional threats

• Collisions with trains (railways) and vehicles (roads) (Williams et al. 2001; Bist 2002; Sarma et al. 2006; Pan et al. 2009; Roy and Sukumar 2017; Wadey et al. 2018; Joshi and Puri 2019; Menon and Tiwari 2019; Ahmed and Saikia 2022; Singh et al. 2023)
  • Most incidents occur at night or other times when visibility is poor
• Disturbance and stress
  • Some elephants that live in close proximity to humans or urban infrastructure experience greater physiological stress (e.g., Vijayakrishnan et al. 2018; Tang et al. 2020)
    • Appears to vary by location and within a population (by age, sex, social group status, etc.)
• Loss of food plants
  • Invasive plants have potential to crowd out Asian elephant’s native food plants (Madhusudan 2004; Prasad 2012; Baskaran 2013)
• Forest fires
  • In Western Ghats, India, set by people harvesting forest resources or grazing cattle (Kodandapani et al. 2004; Baskaran 2013)

Human–elephant conflict

• Human–elephant conflict has occurred for centuries (Singh et al. 2023)
  • In some regions, conflict perceived to be greater in recent years or decades, perhaps due to elephant habitat loss (e.g., Chartier et al. 2011; Gubbi et al. 2014; Pant et al. 2016; Guru and Das 2021)
    • See Habitat loss: agricultural expansion
    • Scarcer food and water due to climate change may also be contributing to any increased crop raiding behavior in elephants (Goswami et al. 2015)
  • Attitudes toward Asian elephants (Wilson et al. 2015; Sampson et al. 2022; Singh et al. 2023)
    • Local people and farmers generally respect elephants (e.g., Singh et al. 2023) or non-human life, more generally (de Silva et al. 2023)
      • In some areas of high conflict, most people may have negative feelings from fear/worry about injury, property damage, or loss of income (de Silva et al. 2023)
      • Also see Cultural History
    • People in rural areas tend to prefer that elephants remain in forests
      • Less tolerant when elephants enter villages, farmland, or threaten human life
• Numerous causes of conflict (e.g., Sukumar 1990; Williams et al. 2001; Bist 2002; Fernando et al. 2005; Goswami et al. 2014; Gubbi et al. 2014; Goswami et al. 2015; Wilson et al. 2015; Pant et al. 2016; Berliani et al. 2018; Thant et al. 2021; IUCN/SSC Asian Elephant Specialist Group 2022; Prins et al. 2022)
  • Elephants eat and/or trample crops
    • Loss of income for farmers
  • Elephants damage property
    • Requires money, time, and materials to repair
  • Humans are injured or die during encounters with elephants in forests, along trails, or at artificial water sources
• Conflict can be fatal
  • Hundreds of elephant and human fatalities occur each year in Asia; most occur in India and Sri Lanka (Nyhus et al. 2000; Baskaran et al. 2011; Gubbi et al. 2014; Fernando 2015; Menon and Tiwari 2019; Williams et al. 2020; Rathnayake et al. 2022; Thant et al. 2022; Singh et al. 2023)
• Risks to elephants
  • In some areas of intense conflict, farmers retaliate by poisoning, shooting, or electrocuting elephants (Bist 2002; Fernando et al. 2011; Gubbi et al. 2014; Palei et al. 2014; Williams et al. 2020; Thant et al. 2022; Singh et al. 2023)
    • Not well reported from much of Asia; impact poorly understood (Williams et al. 2020)
    • Elephants also intentionally electrocuted by poachers (Palei et al. 2014) and accidentally by electrocution equipment set to target wild boar (Prajna Panda, personal communication, 2024)
  • Elephants killed inside and outside of protected areas/forest reserves (Rathnayake et al. 2022; Thant et al. 2022)
• Risks to people
  • People are more likely to be injured or die if defending crops, if they’re unfamiliar with how to escape from elephants, they spend long hours in dense forests searching for food/other resources to survive (e.g., Thant et al. 2021), or walk/travel through forests (Williams et al. 2001)
  • Poorer farmers living at the wildlands–agricultural lands boundary disproportionately impacted (e.g., Prins et al. 2022)
    • Crops near forest edges more accessible to elephants (e.g., Williams et al. 2001; Goswami et al. 2015; Wilson et al. 2015; Chen et al. 2016; Ramkumar et al. 2018; Tripathy et al. 2021)
• Elephant behavior patterns
  • Elephants generally avoid human communities—but sometimes enter, seeking water or food (e.g., after crops harvested and stored in houses/granaries) (Wilson et al. 2015; Pant et al. 2016; Chaiyarat et al. 2022)
    • Some forage opportunistically
  • Often enter crop fields and villages at night (e.g., Sukumar 1989; Sukumar 1990; Nyhus et al. 2000)
    • Avoid humans but this behavior can instill fear in people
  • Solitary males more often implicated in crop raiding and being a threat to humans (e.g., Sukumar and Gadgil 1988; Ekanayaka et al. 2011)—but female or mixed-sex groups also take crops in some locations (e.g., southern Myanmar, Peninsular Malaysia, South India) (Baskaran and Desai 1996; Williams et al. 2001; Budd et al. 2021; De La Torre et al. 2021)
  • See Pant et al. (2016) for discussion of the diverse types of crop raiding
• Non-lethal methods of conflict prevention (summarized in Mumby and Plotnik 2018, Cabral De Mel et al. 2022; IUCN/SSC Asian Elephant Specialist Group 2022)
  • Villagers attempt to scare elephants away by making noise (yelling, banging on metal objects), and using fire and firecrackers (McKay 1973; Nyhus et al. 2000; Fernando et al. 2011; Cabral De Mel et al. 2022; Singh et al. 2023)
  • Attempt to stop entry using barrier fences, electric fences, barbed wire, ditches/trenches, rubble walls, thorny plants (as barricade fences) thorny plants, chili pepper-based elephant deterrents, etc. (McKay 1973; Fernando et al. 2011; Fernando 2015; Cabral De Mel et al. 2022)
  • In India and Sri Lanka, government forestry or wildlife department teams drive elephants away from villages and agricultural lands into forests (Fernando 2015; Singh et al. 2023)
  • In some places, elephant movements detected via early warning systems (Perur 2023; Rahmi et al. 2023)
    • Local people receive alerts/SMS messages to prevent encounters between elephants and humans
  • Elephant translocations (Fernando et al. 2012; Fernando 2015; Saaban et al. 2020; Cabral De Mel et al. 2022)
    • Sometimes used but generally uncommon
      • Expensive and logistically difficult
      • Elephants may return to their original range or wander into other human-populated areas
    • May pose a threat to crops or humans where translocated
    • Small elephant populations harmed by the relocation of even a small number of individuals

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Asian Nature Conservation Foundation (2008)
Blake & Hedges (2004)
Choudhury et al. (2008)
Fernando (2003)
Gopala et al. (2011)
Santiapillai & Jackson (1990)
Sukumar (1989, 2003, 2008)