Asian elephant
The Asian elephant ("Elephas maximus"), also called Asiatic elephant, is the only living species of the genus "Elephas" and is distributed in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, from India and Nepal in the west to Borneo in the south. 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. The Asian elephant is the largest living land animal in Asia.
Elephants in Kerala culture
Elephants found in Kerala, the Indian Elephants, are one of three recognized subspecies of the Asian elephant. Since 1986, Asian Elephant has been listed as endangered by IUCN as the population has declined by at least 50% over the last three generations, estimated to be 25,600 to 32,750 in the wild. The species is pre-eminently threatened by habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation. Along with a large population of wild elephants, Kerala has more than seven hundred domesticated elephants. Most of them are owned by temples and individuals. They are used for religious ceremonies in and around the temples, and some churches and mosques also, and a few elephants work at timber yards. 
Elephants in Kerala are often referred to as the "sons of the sahya"(cf. poem Sahyante Makan by Vyloppalli Sreedhara Menon). As the State Animal, the elephant is featured on the emblem of the Government of Kerala state, taken from the Royal Arms of both Travancore and Cochin. It is believed that an elephant that has been captured in the wild, and domesticated, will never be accepted by other wild elephants. A special bond exists between the mahout and the elephant, and an elephant is known to guard its mahout faithfully. However, elephants when ill-treated, in musth (periodic condition with testosterone surge) or highly temperamental, have been known to attack humans, even to the point of killing its own mahout.