Where do Asian elephants live?
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.
Elephant
Individuals of the Asian species have been often trained as working animals. Asian elephants perform tasks such as hauling loads into remote areas, moving logs to rivers and roads, transporting tourists around national parks, pulling wagons, and leading religious processions. In northern Thailand, the animals are used to digest coffee beans for Black Ivory coffee. They are valued over mechanised tools because they can work in relatively deep water, require relatively little maintenance, need only vegetation and water as fuel and can be trained to memorise specific tasks. Elephants can be trained to respond to over 30 commands. Musth bulls can be difficult and dangerous to work with and are chained and semi-starved until the condition passes. In India, many working elephants are alleged to have been subject to abuse. They and other captive elephants are thus protected under The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act of 1960.
Elephant
Swedish zoologist Carl Linnaeus first described the genus "Elephas" and an elephant from Sri Lanka (then known as Ceylon) under the binomial "Elephas maximus" in 1758. In 1798, Georges Cuvier classified the Indian elephant under the binomial "Elephas indicus". Dutch zoologist Coenraad Jacob Temminck described the Sumatran elephant in 1847 under the binomial "Elephas sumatranus". English zoologist Frederick Nutter Chasen classified all three as subspecies of the Asian elephant in 1940. Asian elephants vary geographically in their colour and amount of depigmentation. The Sri Lankan elephant ("Elephas maximus maximus") inhabits Sri Lanka, the Indian elephant ("E. m. indicus") is native to mainland Asia (on the Indian subcontinent and Indochina), and the Sumatran elephant ("E. m. sumatranus") is found in Sumatra. One disputed subspecies, the Borneo elephant, lives in northern Borneo and is smaller than all the other subspecies. It has larger ears, a longer tail, and straighter tusks than the typical elephant. Sri Lankan zoologist Paules Edward Pieris Deraniyagala described it in 1950 under the trinomial "Elephas maximus borneensis", taking as his type an illustration in "National Geographic". It was subsequently subsumed under either "E. m. indicus" or "E. m. sumatranus". Results of a 2003 genetic analysis indicate its ancestors separated from the mainland population about 300,000 years ago. A 2008 study found that Borneo elephants are not indigenous to the island but were brought there before 1521 by the Sultan of Sulu from Java, where elephants are now extinct.
Asian elephant
In China, the Asian elephant survives only in the prefectures of Xishuangbanna, Simao, and Lincang of southern Yunnan.
Guruvayur Temple
The Punnathur kotta elephant yard is the tethering site or home of the 56 elephants belonging to the temple. Also called the Anakotta (Elephant Fort in vernacular language), the place is the home to the largest population of captive male Asian elephants. These elephants are donated by devotees to the temple, and often they prefer donating tusked male elephants and hence the skewed ratio of males to females. The elephants were initially kept at a compound close to the temple when the numbers were low. However, with more devotees donating elephants, the space became insufficient and hence was moved to a larger property three kilometres away from the temple. Because of their association with the temple, devotees consider several of these elephants as living forms of Lord Guruvayurappa himself. Guruvayur Keshavan is the most famous among those, who, even four decades after his demise is the talk of the town. To honour the royal one, every year on his death anniversary, homage is paid to a life-sized statue of the late tusker followed by a grand feast to the elephants.
Chinese alligator
The Chinese alligator lives in bodies of fresh water, inhabiting "the area of climatic transition between subtropical and temperate regions". Occurring at the base of mountains, it lives in areas where grass and shrubs are common. It was once abundant in wetlands and other larger bodies of water in the wild, such as rivers and lakes, but loss of habitat has limited it to primarily ponds and drainage ditches. Habitat loss has also forced it to live at higher elevations than it prefers, where the weather is colder and the soil is unfit for burrow digging. In one study of the alligator, crocodilian conservationist John Thorbjarnarson observed a female that had to build her nest of pine needles rather than the usual plants; the eggs in the nest died due to the pine needles not being able to warm the eggs properly. Its range is extremely restricted; as of 2015, the only places it lives in the wild are Xuancheng, Nanling County, Jing County, Wuhu, Langxi County, and Guangde County – six counties and cities in the province of Anhui. It is the only species in the family Alligatoridae that lives on a continent other than North or South America.
Asian elephant
Asiatic elephants reach adulthood at 17 years of age in both sexes. Elephants' life expectancy has been exaggerated in the past. They live on average for 60 years in the wild and 80 in captivity.
Asian elephant
Tigers have been recorded rarely attacking and killing calves especially if the calves become separated from their mothers, are stranded from their herd or are orphaned. Adults are largely invulnerable to natural predation. There is a singular anecdotal case of a mother Asian elephant allegedly being killed alongside her calf, however this may well be dubious.
Asian elephant
Adult females and calves move about together as groups, but adult males disperse from their mothers when reaching adolescence. Bull elephants are solitary or form temporary 'bachelor groups'.
Cow-calf units generally tend to be small, typically consisting of three adult most likely related females and their offspring. Larger groups of as many as 15 adult females have also been recorded.
Seasonal aggregations of 17 individuals including calves and subadults have been observed in Sri Lanka's Uda Walawe National Park. Until recently, Asian elephants, like African elephants, were thought to typically follow the leadership of older adult females, or matriarchs. But females form extensive and very fluid social networks, with varying degrees of associations between individuals. Social ties generally tend to be weaker than in African elephants.
Asian forest tortoise
The Asian forest tortoise occurs in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Sri Venkateswara National Park
In 1984 the Asian elephant, not seen in Andhra Pradesh for nearly 300 years, re-appeared in the southern part of Chittoor district. In 1993, a breakaway herd of five individuals moved to the Chamala Valley of Tirumala forests in this national park.
Elephant
Elephants were historically kept for display in the menageries of Ancient Egypt, China, Greece, and Rome. The Romans in particular pitted them against humans and other animals in gladiator events. In the modern era, elephants have traditionally been a major part of zoos and circuses around the world. In circuses, they are trained to perform tricks. The most famous circus elephant was probably Jumbo (1861 – 15 September 1885), who was a major attraction in the Barnum & Bailey Circus. These animals do not reproduce well in captivity, due to the difficulty of handling musth bulls and limited understanding of female oestrous cycles. Asian elephants were always more common than their African counterparts in modern zoos and circuses. After CITES listed the Asian elephant under Appendix I in 1975, the number of African elephants in zoos increased in the 1980s, although the import of Asians continued. Subsequently, the US received many of its captive African elephants from Zimbabwe, which had an overabundance of the animals. As of 2000, around 1,200 Asian and 700 African elephants were kept in zoos and circuses. The largest captive population is in North America, which has an estimated 370 Asian and 350 African elephants. About 380 Asians and 190 Africans are known to exist in Europe, and Japan has around 70 Asians and 67 Africans.
Keeping elephants in zoos has met with some controversy. Proponents of zoos argue that they offer researchers easy access to the animals and provide money and expertise for preserving their natural habitats, as well as safekeeping for the species. Critics claim that the animals in zoos are under physical and mental stress. Elephants have been recorded displaying stereotypical behaviours in the form of swaying back and forth, trunk swaying, or route tracing. This has been observed in 54% of individuals in UK zoos. Elephants in European zoos appear to have shorter lifespans than their wild counterparts at only 17 years, although other studies suggest that zoo elephants live as long those in the wild.
Asian house martin
The Asian house martin ("Delichon dasypus") is a migratory passerine bird of the swallow family Hirundinidae. It has mainly blue-black upperparts, other than its white rump, and has pale grey underparts. Its three subspecies breed in the Himalayas and in central and eastern Asia, and spend the winter lower in the mountains or in Southeast Asia. This species is locally abundant and is expanding northward in Siberia, so there are no concerns about its conservation status.
Asian swamp eel
"M. albus" is native to the tropical and subtropical areas of northern India and Burma to China, Asiatic Russia, Japan, and Indo-Malayan Archipelago. It is one of the common fish found mainly in Asia, from India, Southern China to Malaysia and Indonesia. The fish is an important protein source for people in the northeastern part of Thailand. In Asia, the swamp eel is wide-ranging, occurring in both tropical and temperate climates. Swamp eels live in ditches, ponds, streams, and rice paddies.
Asian elephant
The genus "Elephas" originated in Sub-Saharan Africa during the Pliocene and spread throughout Africa before emigrating to southern Asia. The earliest indications of captive use of Asian elephants are engravings on seals of the Indus Valley Civilisation dated to the 3rd millennium BC.
Asian koel
The Asian koel ("Eudynamys scolopaceus") is a member of the cuckoo order of birds, the Cuculiformes. It is found in the Indian Subcontinent, China, and Southeast Asia. It forms a superspecies with the closely related black-billed and Pacific koels which are sometimes treated as subspecies. The Asian koel is a brood parasite that lays its eggs in the nests of crows and other hosts, who raise its young. They are unusual among the cuckoos in being largely frugivorous as adults. The name "koel" is echoic in origin with several language variants. The bird is a widely used symbol in Indian poetry.
Asian elephant
The gestation period is 18–22 months, and the female gives birth to one calf, only occasionally twins. The calf is fully developed by the 19th month, but stays in the womb to grow so that it can reach its mother to feed. At birth, the calf weighs about , and is suckled for up to three years. Once a female gives birth, she usually does not breed again until the first calf is weaned, resulting in a four to five year birth interval. Females stay on with the herd, but mature males are chased away.
Lanchang
The Asian Elephant, "Elephus maximus ongkili" is listed as an endangered species. According to the UNEP there are only about 1,000 wild Asian elephants left on the Malay peninsula. The rapid development phase in Malaysia has effects on the elephants. Unused land and forest became a much sought after commodity. As agricultural development rapidly encroached into these areas, the elephants' natural and ancestral foraging ground shrunk smaller and smaller. Consequently, some of these elephants began to forage in new farm areas and plantations.
Sainyabuli Province
The Nam Phouy National Biodiversity Conservation Area, a protected area in Laos home to many wild elephants, is located in the forested mountains close to the Thai border.The NBCA is located in the forested mountains of the Luang Prabang Range close to the border with Thailand and is part of the Luang Prabang montane rain forests ecoregion. The reservoir area of lower Nam Phoun dam is partly within the Nam Phouy NBCA. The elephant monitoring in the Nam Phouy NBCA needs to be improved. In view of the concentration of the largest number of Asian elephants in the province, in entire Laos, the Lao Elephant Conservation Center has been established in Hongsa District. The Nam Phouy NBCA, situated entirely in the province, is named after Nam Phouy village (or"Nam Phoun"). It is spread over an area of . Hill ranges reach a maximum elevation of , and are part of the Luang Prabang montane rain forests on the Thai border. Geological formations include Mesozoic sandstones and shales. The habitat is characterized by mixed deciduous forest with an abundance of bamboo resulting from regular forest burning. Afzelia forms at the upper canopy with teak at lower elevations. Apart from wild elephants (about 350), gibbon, gaur, tiger, dhole, serow, silvered langur, Asiatic black bear, and Sumatran rhino are the wild life species reported from the protected area. The protected area was identified by the Government of Laos in the National Elephant Conservation Meeting held in 2008 and WWF has been in the forefront in this effort since 2005. The area is not patrolled much, which makes the enforcement of conservation measures difficult. Elephant monitoring needs to be improved.
Elefantasia
Laos is home to an approximate 560 domesticated Asian elephants. Most are engaged in timber harvesting operations and contribute to the destruction of wild elephant habitat.
Asian elephant
Asian elephants have a very large and highly convoluted neocortex, a trait also shared by humans, apes and certain dolphin species. They have a greater volume of cerebral cortex available for cognitive processing than all other existing land animals. Results of studies indicate that Asian elephants have cognitive abilities for tool use and tool making similar to great apes. They exhibit a wide variety of behaviours, including those associated with grief, learning, allomothering, mimicry, play, altruism, use of tools, compassion, cooperation, self-awareness, memory, and language. Elephants are reported to go to safer ground during natural disasters like tsunamis and earthquakes, although there have been no scientific records of this since it is hard to recreate or predict natural disasters.
Elephants in Thailand
Asian elephants share a close relationship with the Thai people, from being used warriors on battlefields, worshiped as religious icons, and faithful laborers to loggers. Environmental exploitation, massive landslides and mudflows led the government to ban logging in Thailand in 1986 . This lead to almost 70% of domesticated elephants to be out of work but they still help a large amount of cultural significance in Thailand and were are large part of the locals livelihood. After the ban on logging a lot of the elephants joined the tourist industry and became part of trekking camps and street begging . Today many elephant activists such as Lek Chailert are making "ecotourism" more popular, working to free these gentle giants from work and promote their conservation while maintaining their cultural significance within Thailand .
Asian koel
The Asian koel is a bird of light woodland and cultivation. It is a mainly resident breeder in tropical southern Asia from India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to southern China and the Greater Sundas. They have great potential in colonizing new areas, and were among the pioneer birds to colonize the volcanic island of Krakatau. They first arrived in Singapore in the 1980s and became very common birds.
Australia Zoo
Elephantasia is a Asian themed exhibit that opened in 2006 and is the largest Asian elephant enclosure in Australia. It includes a wading pool with a fountain, and tropical gardens with shaded areas for the zoo's elephants. Australia Zoo, however, no longer holds elephants, as two elephants were returned to Sydney, and the last surviving elephant died in 2013.
Asian elephant
Female Asian elephants usually lack tusks; if tusks—in that case called "tushes"—are present, they are barely visible, and only seen when the mouth is open. The enamel plates of the molars are greater in number and closer together in Asian elephants. Some males may also lack tusks; these individuals are called "filsy makhnas", and are especially common among the Sri Lankan elephant population. Furthermore, the forehead has two hemispherical bulges, unlike the flat front of the African elephant. Unlike African elephants which rarely use their forefeet for anything other than digging or scraping soil, Asian elephants are more agile at using their feet in conjunction with the trunk for manipulating objects. They can sometimes be known for their violent behaviour.
Patara Elephant Farm
Patara Elephant Farm is a health-recovery and reproduction-management farm for elephants. Its focus is on educating the public on elephants and the threats they face. To do this, the farm pairs visitors up with an elephant for a day and assigns them the task of caring for that elephant. As of December 2014, the farm is home to 55 elephants. It is located in the mountains near Hang Dong Valley, 45 minutes south of Chiang Mai, Thailand. It was founded in 2001 by a man named Theerapat "Pat" Trungprakan's and his wife Anocha "Dao" with the goal of preserving the elephant population in Thailand. Theerapat says there is much sacrifice involved, and says he and the other caretakers spend more time with the elephants than with their wives The elephants' caretakers, known as mahouts, are from a nearby Karen village and are paired-up with their own elephant to take care of.
Mona (elephant)
She was housed in Miami, Florida for about two years before debuting in Birmingham on July 4, 1955, the year the Zoo reopened at its present location in Lane Park. She was estimated to be 55 or 56 at the time of her death. The average life span of female Asian elephants, in the wild, is currently estimated to be about 60 years. In captivity it is estimated to be 43. Some individuals outside of the United States have lived in excess of 70 years in captivity.
Asian elephant
Human-elephant conflict is categorised into:Development such as border fencing along the India-Bangladesh border has become a major impediment to the free movement of elephants. In Assam, more than 1,150 humans and 370 elephants died as a result of human-elephant conflict between 1980 and 2003.
In India alone, over 400 people are killed by elephants every year, and 0.8 to 1 million hectares are damaged, affecting at least 500,000 families across the country. Moreover, elephants are known to destroy crops worth up to US$2–3 million annually. This has major impacts on the welfare and livelihoods of local communities, as well as the future conservation of this species. In countries like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, the Asian elephant is easily one of the most feared wild animals, although they are certainly far less deadly than those such as venomous snakes (which were estimated to claim more than 30 times more lives in Sri Lanka than elephants). As a whole, Asian elephants are considered behaviorally unpredictable, most tend to avoid human activity, but if surprised or scared by human activity or a mother feeling protective of a calf, an elephant may suddenly charge, which is often very dangerous to a person if they are caught out on foot. Gunfire and other forms of hazing, which are known to be effective in other potentially dangerous wild animals in causing them to avoid humans, can have a negative effect in elephants. Elephants known to be abused by humans in the past are known to occasionally become "rogue elephants", which regularly attack people with no provocation.
Asiatic lion
The Asiatic lion is genetically closer to North and West African lions than to the group comprising East and Southern African lions. The two groups probably diverged about 186,000–128,000 years ago. It is thought that the Asiatic lion remained connected to North and Central African lions until gene flow was interrupted due to extinction of lions in Europe and the Middle East.
Asian elephant
Asian elephants inhabit grasslands, tropical evergreen forests, semi-evergreen forests, moist deciduous forests, dry deciduous forests and dry thorn forests, in addition to cultivated and secondary forests and scrublands. Over this range of habitat types elephants occur from sea level to over . In the eastern Himalaya in northeast India, they regularly move up above in summer at a few sites.
Sri Lankan elephant
In general, Asian elephants are smaller than African elephants and have the highest body point on the head. The tip of their trunk has one finger-like process. Their back is convex or level. Females are usually smaller than males, and have short or no tusks.
Twycross Zoo
Elephant Creek's main attraction is the group of five Asian elephants, forming Twycross Zoo's all-female herd. In 2010, ‘Uda Walawe’, a Sri Lankan-themed elephant walkway and habitat which goes around the perimeter of the elephant enclosure, enabling visitors to see the animals from many different angles, was opened. During the drier months, the elephants also have access to a large grass paddock where visitors can see them from the walkway, which was raised to improve viewing opportunities in mid-2014. The elephants have moved to Blackpool Zoo and the enclosure will be redeveloped.
Fanny (elephant)
Fanny was a female Asian elephant who spent the majority of her life in a small zoo in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
Asian elephant
The population in Vietnam and Laos was tested to determine if it is a subspecies as well. This research is considered vital, as less than 1,300 wild Asian elephants remain in Laos. In addition, two extinct subspecies are considered to have existed:In general, the Asian elephant is smaller than the African bush elephant and has the highest body point on the head. The back is convex or level. The ears are small with dorsal borders folded laterally. It has up to 20 pairs of ribs and 34 caudal vertebrae. The feet have more nail-like structures than those of African elephants—five on each forefoot, and four on each hind foot.
When Elephants Were Young
The film explores the central role that elephants play in Thai culture - elephants have been ingrained in traditions and spirituality for thousands of years. Yet today, Asian elephants are facing extinction: they are an endangered species, with fewer than 45,000 Asian elephants left on earth. Most elephants in Thailand are forced into the $40-billion-a-year tourism trade. The film explains that illegal tusks are smuggled into the country, making Thailand one of the biggest markets for the global ivory trade. It also describes how the growing human population continues to trespass into elephant habitats. A century ago, more than 100,000 elephants roamed freely in Thailand's lush forests. Today, only 4,000 remain - 2,800 of which are captive.
Los Angeles Zoo
This $42 million exhibit complex at the center of the zoo opened in 2010 and houses Asian elephants and other southeast Asian wildlife. The main elephant enclosure is and has a barn used for medical exams. The complex is divided into several areas, each based on a different country in the elephants' range. The Thai Pavilion teaches visitors about the role of elephant labor in Thailand's economy. Guests can find information about elephant conservation in India at Elephants of India Plaza, which also has a waterfall where the animals can bathe. The Elephants of China section houses sarus crane and Chinese water deer in a marsh habitat and has information about the history of the Dai people and their relationship with elephants.
Asian elephant
The latest threat to endangered Asia elephants is high and increasing demand for elephant skin. The skin is used as an ingredient in Chinese medicine as well as in the manufacture of ornamental beads. The practice has been aided by China's State Forestry Administration (SFA), which has issued licences for the manufacture and sale of pharmaceutical products containing elephant skin, thereby making trading legal. In 2010 four skinned elephants were found in a Myanmar forest. Twenty-six elephants were killed by poachers in 2013. The number jumped to 61 in 2016. According to the NGO, Elephant Family, the main source of elephant skin is, at present, Myanmar, where a poaching crisis has developed rapidly since 2010.
Elephas platycephalus
Elephas platycephalus is an extinct species of large herbivorous mammals that were closely related to Asian elephants. It lived between 130,000 and 700,000 years ago during the Middle Pleistocene epoch. Fossils have been found in the upper Sivalik Hills..
Indian elephant
Since 1986, the Asian elephant has been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List as the wild population has declined by at least 50% since the 1940s to 1930s, i.e. three elephant generations. The Asian elephant is threatened by habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation.
Indian elephant
The pre-eminent threats to Asian elephants today are habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation, which are driven by an expanding human population, and lead in turn to increasing conflicts between humans and elephants when elephants eat or trample crops. Loss of significant extents of elephant range and suitable habitat continues; their free movement is impeded by reservoirs, hydroelectric projects and associated canals, irrigation dams, numerous pockets of cultivation and plantations, highways, railway lines, mining and industrial development.
Packy (elephant)
Packy (April 14, 1962 – February 9, 2017) was an Asian elephant at the Oregon Zoo (Portland Zoological Gardens at the time of his birth) in Portland, Oregon, United States. He was famous for having been the first elephant born in the Western Hemisphere in 44 years. At the time of his death, he was the oldest male Asian elephant in North America. With a shoulder height of and overall height of more than when standing up straight, Packy was also one of the tallest elephants in the United States and perhaps one of the tallest worldwide.
Southeastern Indochina dry evergreen forests
The ecoregion is home to many large mammals, including the Asian elephant "(Elephas maximus)", tiger "(Panthera tigris)", previously one of two known populations of the now extinct Javan rhinoceros "(Rhinoceros sondaicus annamiticus)", Eld's Deer "(Cervus eldi)", banteng "(Bos javanicus)", gaur "(Bos gaurus)", clouded leopard "(Pardofelis nebulosa)," leopard "(Panthera pardus)", Malayan sun bear "(Ursus malayanus)", and khting-vor "(Pseudonovibos spiralis)".
Elephant
The elephants are the large mammals forming the family Elephantidae in the order Proboscidea. Three species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant ("Loxodonta africana"), the African forest elephant ("L. cyclotis"), and the Asian elephant ("Elephas maximus"). Elephants are scattered throughout sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Elephantidae is the only surviving family of the order Proboscidea; other, now extinct, members of the order include deinotheres, gomphotheres, mammoths, and mastodons.
Asiatic lion
The Asiatic lion is a "Panthera leo leo" population in India. Its range is restricted to the Gir National Park and environs in the Indian state of Gujarat. On the IUCN Red List it is listed under its former scientific name "Panthera leo persica" as Endangered because of its small size and area of occupancy.
Asian emerald cuckoo
This cuckoo has a breeding range that extends from the Himalayas eastwards to Myanmar, China and northern Thailand. Further south it is a vagrant or migrant in northern India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Sumatra; it is not known to breed in these areas. It frequents forests and woodland margins.
El Paso Zoo
The Animals of Asia section highlights animals of that continent, including Asian elephants, Sumatran orangutans, Malayan tapirs, Siamang gibbons, Amur leopards, lion-tailed macaques, Malayan tigers, Malayan sun bears, and Przewalski's horses. The indoor Asian Forest Complex is home to small mammals like the Prevost's squirrel and slow loris, as well as birds including hooded cranes, pink pigeons, rhinoceros hornbill, white-eyed ducks, Bali myna, black-naped fruit dove, bleeding heart pigeon, Nicobar pigeon, and yellow-vented bulbuls. The building is also home to a Burmese python and goldfish.
Koundinya Wildlife Sanctuary
Kaundinya Wildlife Sanctuary is a wildlife sanctuary and an elephant reserve situated in Andhra Pradesh, India.It is the only sanctuary in Andhra Pradesh with a population of Asian elephants, which migrated after 200 years from neighbouring regions.
Execution by elephant
Elephants are widely reported to have been used to carry out executions in Southeast Asia, and were used in Burma and Malaysia from the earliest historical times as well as in the kingdom of Champa on the other side of the Indochinese Peninsula. In Siam, elephants were trained to throw the condemned into the air before trampling them to death. Alexander Hamilton provides the following account from Siam:
Dierenpark Emmen
The zoo has had great success breeding Asian elephants, with 26 births since 1992 and four births in 2010 and 2011 alone. In 2011 there were 13 elephants at the zoo, others having been transported to other zoos. The elephant accommodations comprise a large moated island for females and calves, and a separate smaller island for the bull, with indoor housing being underground.
Oregon Zoo
Three female (Sung-Surin "Shine", Rose-Tu, and Chendra; Lily passed away on November 29th, 2018) and two male (Samudra and Samson) Asian elephants are displayed at the popular elephant exhibit. All were born at the zoo, with the exception of Chendra, who was orphaned in the wild; and Samson, who was acquired from the Albuquerque Zoo. Chendra is the only Borneo elephant in the United States. On November 30, 2012, at 2:17 a.m., Rose-Tu and the late Tusko (who are also the parents of Samudra) had a female calf Lily, weighing about 300 lbs (136 kg) at birth. There is a swimming hole in which up to ten elephants can simultaneously completely submerge, sandy ground for comfortable walking and a scratching station, which the elephants often choose to scratch their head, sides, belly, etc. The exhibit was recently enlarged from to , expanding into the same location as the elk and wolves (now gone) once were. Construction for the expansion began in 2013, and included a variety of terrain (meadows, forests, and mud wallows with sand lining the whole enclosure), a timed-feeding system to provide more natural stimulation, and an eco-friendly heating system to keep them warm year-round. Areas of the exhibit such as the Encounter Habitat were completed in summer of 2014, and their new habitat was finished in autumn of 2015.
Indian elephant
The Indian elephant ("Elephas maximus indicus") is one of three recognized subspecies of the Asian elephant and native to mainland Asia.
Pleistocene rewilding
During the Pleistocene, large populations of Proboscideans lived in North America, such as the Columbian mammoth and the American mastodon. The mastodons all became extinct at the end of the Pleistocene era, as did the mammoths of North America. However, an extant relative of the mammoth is the Asian elephant. It now resides only in tropical southeastern Asia, but the fossil record shows that it was much more widespread, living in temperate northern China as well as the Middle East (an area bearing an ecological similarity to the southern and central United States). The Asian elephant is possibly a good candidate for Pleistocene rewilding in North America. Asian elephants would do well in the environments previously occupied by the Columbian mammoth. African elephants have also been suggested for introduction into North America.
Palaeoloxodon namadicus
Palaeoloxodon namadicus or the Asian straight-tusked elephant, was a species of prehistoric elephant that ranged throughout Pleistocene Asia, from India (where it was first discovered) to Japan. It is a descendant of the straight-tusked elephant.
Elephant
Elephants are the largest living terrestrial animals. African bush elephants are the largest species, with males typically being tall at the shoulder and while females stand tall at the shoulder with a body mass of . Male Asian elephants are usually about tall at the shoulder and whereas females are tall at the shoulder and . African forest elephants are the smallest species, usually being around tall at the shoulder and . Male African elephants are typically 23% taller than females, whereas male Asian elephants are only around 15% taller than females. The skeleton of the elephant is made up of 326–351 bones. The vertebrae are connected by tight joints, which limit the backbone's flexibility. African elephants have 21 pairs of ribs, while Asian elephants have 19 or 20 pairs.
Lion
The Asiatic lion now only survives in and around Gir Forest National Park in Gujarat, western India. Its habitat is a mixture of dry savannah forest and very dry, deciduous scrub forest.
Niabi Zoo
The zoo's Asian elephants, Babe and Sophie, were unanimously voted to be sent away rather than raise $4 million for a new exhibit. They were the last live elephants in the state of Illinois. However, the zoo plans to build a new lion exhibit and potentially new habitats for tigers and bears at a later date. They are seeking to get re-accredited by the AZA.
Kandula (elephant)
An Asian Elephant born in 2001 at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. was named after Kandula. He is only the second Asian elephant to be conceived by artificial insemination.
Gir National Park
The Asiatic lion's habitat is dry scrub land and open deciduous forest. These lions were once found across northern Africa, south west Asia and northern Greece. The lion population which was 411 in 2010 has increased to 523 in 2015 and all of them are in or around the Gir Forest National Park. The first modern day count of lions was done by Mark Alexander Wynter-Blyth, the principal of Rajkumar College, Rajkot and R.S. Dharmakumarsinhji sometime between 1948 and 1963, probably early in his tenure as the principal during that period.
Even though the Gir Forest is well protected, there are instances of Asiatic lions being poached. They have also been poisoned for attacking livestock. Some of the other threats include floods, fires and the possibility of epidemics and natural calamities. Gir nonetheless remains the most promising long term preserve for them.
While most would see the lions as aggressive and dangerous, the lions of Gir rarely attack people. They live in a very close proximity to people, which makes their behavior different almost as if they have an acquaintanceship with the neighboring people. The lions who remember being hunted have now taken the higher road and stopped the circle of life.
Borneo elephant
The pre-eminent threats to the Asian elephant today are habitat loss, degradation, and fragmentation, which are driven by an expanding human population, and lead in turn to increasing conflicts between humans and elephants when elephants eat or trample crops. Hundreds of people and elephants are killed annually as a result of such conflicts. 
Expanding human development disrupts their migration routes, depletes their food sources, and destroys their habitat.
Kaziranga Elephant Festival
The Kaziranga Elephant Festival is a yearly elephant festival held in the Kaziranga National Park of Assam for the conservation and protection of Asiatic elephant. The festival is jointly organised by the Forest Department and Tourism Department of Assam with an objective to highlight and find ways to resolve the increasing man-elephant conflict. Hundreds of domestic Asiatic elephants, decorated from head to toe, participate in the program. They take part in parade, races, football and dance earning praises from the spectators.
Palaeoloxodon naumanni
"Palaeoloxodon naumanni" is closely related to the modern Asian Elephant, "Elephas maximus". Similar to mammoths "P. naumanni" had a subcutaneous fat layer and long fur as an adaption to a cold environment. The species had a pair of long twisted tusks and a bulge on the head. These tusks grew more than 2.4 m in length, 20 cm in diameter. It was a little smaller than Asian elephants averaging to . It lived in forest which mixed subarctic conifers and cool-temperate deciduous trees.
Asian golden weaver
Asian golden weavers are primarily presumed residents, meaning they are often found in their most comfortable locations. The most common habitats of the Asian golden weaver would include the lowlands, usually those with a close proximity to water; some of these areas would involve marshes, rice paddies, flooded grasslands, and swamps. In addition, this weaver feeds mainly on seeds, and during breeding, insects usually account for only 7% of their diet.
Elephant
Elephants are herbivorous and can be found in different habitats including savannahs, forests, deserts, and marshes. They prefer to stay near water. They are considered to be a keystone species due to their impact on their environments. Other animals tend to keep their distance from elephants while predators, such as lions, tigers, hyenas, and any wild dogs, usually target only young elephants (or "calves"). Elephants have a fission–fusion society in which multiple family groups come together to socialise. Females ("cows") tend to live in family groups, which can consist of one female with her calves or several related females with offspring. The groups are led by an individual known as the matriarch, often the oldest cow.
Really Wild Animals
The immense continent of Asia is explored. With such a large area to cover, this episode jumps from one place to the next. Examples include the Indonesian islands, the Arabian Peninsula, Indian jungles, and Chinese mountains. Some of the featured animals in these locations are the sea snake, the Arabian oryx, the dhole, the proboscis monkey, the tiger, the Asian elephant, the orangutan, the white-bellied sea eagle, and the giant panda. The difference between myth and reality is put to the test in uncovering the lifestyles of all these creatures.
Giant Asian pond turtle
The Giant Asian pond turtle ("Heosemys grandis") inhabits rivers, streams, marshes, and rice paddies from estuarine lowlands to moderate altitudes (up to about 400 m) throughout Cambodia and Vietnam and in parts of Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar and Thailand.
Little Rock Zoo
The elephant exhibit is home to the zoo's Asian elephants. The elephant exhibit is extremely large in order to house these gigantic animals. The elephants also have a large stretch of yard to walk around in outside. There is a large viewing window for the visitors in the front and large banners on the sides that have famous quotes from notable figures citing the majesty and importance of elephants. 
The exhibit features a walkway that is suspended above the ape's enclosure. The ground is covered in grass and includes trees and rope for the apes to climb. Western lowland gorilla can be seen on one side of the walkway and common chimpanzee and Bornean orangutan can be seen on both sides. Outside of this exhibit, various primate islands can be found that are home to the ring-tailed lemur, black-and-white ruffed lemur, blue-eyed black lemur, Madagascar teal, black-handed spider monkey, siamang, and koi.
Callimico, douroucouli, Geoffrey's marmoset, Geoffroy's tamarin, Wied's marmoset, lesser spot-nosed guenon, pygmy slow loris, red-capped mangabey, Angolan talapoin, southern three-banded armadillo, tufted capuchin, two-toed sloth, white-faced saki, Gibbon, Gorilla, Chimpanzee and Orangutan 
Snakes - Black pine snake, Louisiana pine snake, northern pine snake, puff adder, eastern hognose snake, western hognose snake, southern copperhead, western pigmy rattlesnake, canebrake rattlesnake, eastern diamondback rattlesnake, western cottonmouth, Sonoran gopher snake, corn snake, mole snake, Asiatic rock python, green tree python, Savu python, Burmese python, Mexican burrowing python, eastern indigo snake, Sinaloan milk snake, eastern coachwhip, West African gaboon viper, rhinoceros viper, eyelash viper, Malayan pit viper, grey-banded kingsnake, red spitting cobra, Cape cobra, and Mexican cantil.
White line gecko, African fat-tailed gecko, leopard gecko, Standing's day gecko, Madagascar giant day gecko, tokay gecko, Nile monitor, crocodile monitor, Gila monster, eastern glass lizard, frilled lizard, Sudan plated lizard, blue spiny lizard, northern blue-tongued skink, broadhead skink, Solomon Islands skink, Great Plains skink, panther chameleon, green iguana, green crested basilisk, common snakeneck turtle, spiny softshell turtle, African spurred tortoise, alligator snapping turtle, and the American alligator.
White's tree frog, axolotl, red eyed tree frog, Panamanian golden frog, blue poison dart frog, green and black poison dart frog, yellow and blue poison dart frog, yellow banded poison arrow frog, Oriental fire-bellied toad, giant marine toad, tiger salamander, western lesser siren.
Brazilian cockroach, "Scolopendra heros", emperor scorpion, "Lasiodora parahybana", giant African millipede, "Aphonopelma seemanni", tailless whip scorpion, Vietnamese walking stick.
roseate spoonbill, scarlet ibis, black-naped fruit dove, grey peacock pheasant, southern crowned pigeon, Nicobar pigeon, helmeted guineafowl, Mandarin duck, ruddy shelduck, Madagascar teal, Marbled teal, Catalina Macaw and the green aracari.
Asian elephant
Three subspecies are currently recognised: the Sri Lankan elephant, the Indian elephant, and the Sumatran elephant. In 1950, Paules Edward Pieris Deraniyagala described the Borneo elephant under the trinomial "Elephas maximus borneensis", taking as his type an illustration in "National Geographic", but not a living elephant in accordance with the rules of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature. "E. m. borneensis" lives in northern Borneo and is smaller than all the other subspecies, but with larger ears, a longer tail, and straight tusks. Results of genetic analysis indicate that its ancestors separated from the mainland population about 300,000 years ago.
Auckland Zoo
In March 2015, Auckland Zoo first announced that 8-year-old Asian elephant Anjalee would be coming to the zoo from Sri Lanka halfway through the year to be a companion for lone elephant Burma.
She has to spend a 3-month quarantine period on Niue before coming to Auckland. The zoo has been trying to look for an elephant companion for Burma since Kashin's death in August 2009.
Pollicaria
Elephant pupinid snails are endemic to tropical forests in Indochina. They are present in Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Peninsular Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. They are commonly found in abundant numbers under the leaf litter of forests near limestone outcroppings.
Kegalle
Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage is an orphanage, nursery and captive breeding ground for wild Asian elephants located at Pinnawala village, 13 km (8.1 mi) northeast of Kegalle town in Sabaragamuwa Province of Sri Lanka. Pinnawala is notable for having the largest herd of captive elephants in the world.
Elephants in Thailand
Because of their diet, the natural habitat of the Thai elephant are in tropical forests which are found in the northern and western parts of Thailand: Mae Hong Son, Chumphon, and the border near Burma (Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, Erawan Falls National Park), Petchabun range, Dangrek Range, and peninsular Thailand (Ranong, and Trang). Each elephant requires an area of at least 100 km to ensure sufficient food.
Koundinya Wildlife Sanctuary
Kaundinya is a region to which elephants have returned after 200 years. In the last decade, elephants have been migrating more than ever before, looking for habitable forests. From 1983 to 1986, a sizable number of elephants began their journey from the forests of Anekal-Hosur in Tamil Nadu and Bannerghatta in Karnataka to seek alternative homes in other regions. Thirty-nine of the elephants moved to the forests of Andhra Pradesh, a state which had no elephants before. This led to the government setting up the sanctuary in December 1990. Today it is home to about 72 elephants
Elephants in Thailand
Logging—licit and illicit—destroyed much natural elephant habitat. This resulted in a plunge in the number of elephants in Thailand. Organizations were established to better the lives of the elephants. The National Elephant Institute is the only organization that is government-owned. It is in Lampang, a province in northern Thailand. There are many more private organizations contributing to preserving this endangered species as well. These organizations generate revenue by letting people experience elephants in their natural state. They have a schedule of elephant shows which are not harmful or too tiring for the elephants. But according to the NGO, World Animal Protection, "A true elephant-friendly venue would be purely observational for visitors..." The organisation has published a list of the elephant venues with the best treatment of elephants. Unfortunately this call to boycott all camps ignores the bigger problem of all domestic elephants requiring care and nurturing. In addition the complexity of herd dynamics in domestic elephants, the strong bonds that elephants form with their mahouts, the existence of killer and dangerous elephants, the history and culture of elephants are all factors that must be also factored into caring for elephants and what tourist solutions are appropriate. A variety of solutions must be considered and implemented to ensure the well-being of elephants.
Asian elephant
Demographic analysis of captive Asian elephants in North America indicates that the population is not self-sustaining. First year mortality is nearly 30 per cent, and fecundity is extremely low throughout the prime reproductive years. Data from North American and European regional studbooks from 1962 to 2006 were analysed for deviation of the birth and juvenile death sex ratio. Of 349 captive calves born, 142 died prematurely. They died within one month of birth, major causes being stillbirth and infanticide by either the calf's mother or by one of the exhibition mates. The sex ratio of stillbirths in Europe was found to have a tendency for excess of males.
Asian elephant
Several students of elephant cognition and neuroanatomy are convinced that Asian elephants are highly intelligent and self-aware. Others contest this view.
Asian elephant
The elephant plays an important part in the culture of the subcontinent and beyond, being featured prominently in the "Panchatantra" fables and the Buddhist "Jataka" tales. They play a major role in Hinduism: the god Ganesha's head is that of an elephant, and the "blessings" of a temple elephant are highly valued. Elephants are frequently used in processions where the animals are adorned with festive outfits.
Sumatran elephant
The Sumatran elephant ("Elephas maximus sumatranus") is one of three recognized subspecies of the Asian elephant, and native to the Indonesia island of Sumatra. In 2011, the Sumatran elephant has been classified as critically endangered by IUCN as the population has declined by at least 80% over the last three generations, estimated to be about 75 years. The subspecies is pre-eminently threatened by habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation, and poaching; over 69% of potential elephant habitat has been lost within the last 25 years. Much of the remaining forest cover is in blocks smaller than , which are too small to contain viable elephant populations.
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.
Amorphophallus paeoniifolius
The elephant foot yam is used as food in Island Southeast Asia, Mainland Southeast Asia, South Asia, New Guinea, Oceania, and Madagascar. Its origin and center of domestication was formerly considered to be India, where it is most widely utilized as a food resource in recent times. But a genetic study in 2017 have shown that Indian populations of elephant foot yams have lower genetic diversity than those in Island Southeast Asia, therefore it is now believed that elephant foot yams originated from Island Southeast Asia and spread into westwards into Thailand and India, resulting in three independent domestication events. From Island Southeast Asia, they were also spread even further west into Madagascar, and eastwards to coastal New Guinea and Oceania by the Austronesian migrations. Though they may have spread south into Australia without human intervention.
Sri Lankan elephant
The Sri Lankan elephant ("Elephas maximus maximus") is one of three recognized subspecies of the Asian elephant, and native to Sri Lanka. Since 1986, "Elephas maximus" has been listed as endangered by IUCN as the population has declined by at least 50% over the last three generations, estimated to be 60–75 years. The species is pre-eminently threatened by habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation.
Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage
Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage is an orphanage, nursery and captive breeding ground for wild Asian elephants located at Pinnawala village, northeast of Kegalle town in Sabaragamuwa Province of Sri Lanka. Pinnawala has the largest herd of captive elephants in the world. In 2011, there were 96 elephants, including 43 
males and 68 females from 3 generations, living in Pinnawala.
Borneo lowland rain forest
The wildlife of this ecoregion consists of a large number of forest animals ranging from the world's smallest squirrel, the least pygmy squirrel, to the largest land mammal in Asia, the Asian elephant. It includes the critically endangered Sumatran rhinoceros, the endangered and iconic Bornean orangutan, twelve other species of primate, Bornean bearded pigs and Bornean yellow muntjac deer. The primates of Borneo are: three apes (Bornean orangutan, Müller's Bornean gibbon and Bornean white-bearded gibbon), five langurs, the southern pig-tailed macaque, the long-tailed macaque, Horsfield's tarsier ("Tarsius bancanus"), the Sunda slow loris ("Nycticebus coucang") and the endangered proboscis monkey ("Nasalis larvatus"). There are no tigers on Borneo; carnivores include the endangered clouded leopard ("Neofelis nebulosa"), the sun bear ("Helarctos malayanus"), the otter civet ("Cynogale bennettii"), and several other mustelids and viverrids.
Southeast Asia
The vast majority of Southeast Asia falls within the warm, humid tropics, and its climate generally can be characterised as monsoonal.
The animals of Southeast Asia are diverse; on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, the orangutan, the Asian elephant, the Malayan tapir, the Sumatran rhinoceros and the Bornean clouded leopard can also be found. Six subspecies of the binturong or "bearcat" exist in the region, though the one endemic to the island of Palawan is now classed as vulnerable.
Asian black bear
The Asian black bear ("Ursus thibetanus", previously known as "Selenarctos thibetanus"), also known as the moon bear and the white-chested bear, is a medium-sized bear species native to Asia and largely adapted to arboreal life. It lives in the Himalayas, in the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent, Korea, northeastern China, the Russian Far East, the Honshū and Shikoku islands of Japan, and Taiwan. It is classified as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), mostly because of deforestation and hunting for its body parts.
Turkestan lynx
The Turkestan lynx is one of the most widespread subspecies of Eurasian lynx. In Central Asia, the Turkestan lynx live mostly in open woodlands and steppe, and are also found throughout the rocky hills and mountains of the Central Asian desert regions. In southern Asia, it occurs throughout the northern slopes of the Himalayas, and has been reported both from thick scrub woodland and barren, rocky areas above the tree line. The Turkestan lynx live in the Ladakh area of Kashmir, the Himachal Pradesh and other Indian states of the Himalayas region. In southern China, it occurs sporadically throughout the Tibetan plateau.
International Elephant Foundation
Based on IEF’s successful Sumatran elephant Conservation Response Unit project, IEF is developing a long-term relationship with Myanmar Timber Enterprise (MTE) to assist in developing a Conservation Center and Conservation Response Units that would use out-of-work elephants for eco-education and conservation patrols. This center will also be a base for mahout training and an elephant hospital.
Human-elephant conflict is a problem in many villages in Assam. In addition to food crops, forests are being logged for their timber, fuel or cleared to make space for cash crop plantations such as rubber. As elephant habitat diminishes, elephants leave the forest and enter human communities in search of food. This project, proposed by affected villagers, will revive the degraded habitat of wild elephants by planting elephant food plants in the existing elephant habitat, and planting natural barriers of thorny plants - Assam lemon and thorny bamboo - between the forest and fields to protect the cultivated areas.
Habitat loss and degradation is a significant issue for Asian elephant in Cambodia and there has been few targeted conservation efforts. The short-term goals of this project are to collect critical information to enable a monitoring program to be established, to improve human-Asian elephant coexistence and to inform the development of a comprehensive Asian elephant national action plan for Cambodia. The long-term is to develop a monitoring program for Asian elephants in the southern Cardamom Mountains.
Human- elephant conflict is a growing problem in Sri Lanka as elephants are forced to leave the forest looking for food and water. These conflicts lead to human and elephant deaths and damage to crops and property. The Schools Awareness Program has presented curriculum at 1,500 schools in the last 10 years and addresses the value of elephants, the causes of conflict, how to minimize the conflicts and stresses the need for conservation.
This project will seek strategies for reopening elephant corridors in the northwestern wildlife region, identify the locations of existing elephant corridors and isolated elephant habitats, and identify suitable areas for development that will not block the natural migration routes and does not harm the natural food sources of the elephants.
Asian black bear
Black bears typically inhabit deciduous forests, deserts, mixed forests and thornbrush forests. They rarely live in elevations of more than . They usually inhabit elevations around in the Himalayas in the summer, and will climb down to in winter. They sometimes occur at sea level in Japan.
African elephant
Between the African elephants and the Asian elephants there is a large variance in genetics; also, within Africa the different species vary in genetics based on where they live. The two African species, "Loxodonta africana" and "Loxodonta cyclotis", share different gene flow and have limited hybridization with each other.
Wildlife of China
Asian elephants once roamed a large swath of China, but are now confined to the Xishuangbanna and Pu'er Prefectures of southern Yunnan. Xishuangbana means 12 elephants in the local Thai language. In recent years, Chinese demand for ivory has led to a sharp increase in elephant poaching around the world. Thanks to strict enforcement of elephant protection laws with capital punishment for poachers and government financed feeding programs, the population of elephants within China from 1994 to 2014 roughly doubled to nearly 300.
Elephant
Other threats to elephants include habitat destruction and fragmentation. The Asian elephant lives in areas with some of the highest human populations. Because they need larger amounts of land than other sympatric terrestrial mammals, they are the first to be affected by human encroachment. In extreme cases, elephants may be confined to small islands of forest among human-dominated landscapes. Elephants cannot coexist with humans in agricultural areas due to their size and food requirements. Elephants commonly trample and consume crops, which contributes to conflicts with humans, and both elephants and humans have died by the hundreds as a result. Mitigating these conflicts is important for conservation. One proposed solution is the provision of ‘urban corridors’ which allow the animals access to key areas.
Asian black bear
In Korea, most of the black bears live in the broad-leaved forest of the alpine region, more than 1,500 meters north of Jirisan. Korean National Park Service announced on April 15, 2018 that eight mother bears gave birth to eleven babies. Six mother bears living in the wild gave birth to eight babies. Two mothers that were being taken care by the nature adaptation training center in Gurye, South Jeolla Province gave birth to three babies. Now there are 56 black bears living in the wild of Jirisan. If the Korea National Park Service release three cubs born in natural adaptation training centers at September this year, the number of black bears living in the wild will increase to 59. As a result, the restoration of the target of 50 black bears, or the minimum remaining population, will be achieved two years earlier. It was a goal by 2020. Their next goal is to expand and improve the habitat and to increase the genetic diversity of the black bears in Mt. Jiri
Zoo Atlanta
The "Asian Forest" is set in the forests of Asia and houses giant otters, sun bears, Komodo dragons, Sumatran tigers, giant pandas, tanukis, and red pandas, as well as Bornean orangutans and Sumatran orangutans.
Asian elephant
The elephant is depicted in several Indian manuscripts and treatises. Notable amongst these is the Matanga Lila (elephant sport) of Nilakantha. The manuscript Hastividyarnava is from Assam in northeast India.
Elephant crushing
Working and performing elephants in Thailand are often poached from Myanmar and trafficked into Thailand. There are around 6,500 elephants currently living in Thailand, with around 2,500 of them being caught from the wild. Trafficked animals can be passed off as being locally reared, with birth and ownership documentation falsified.
Asian elephant
In Bangladesh, some isolated populations survive in the south-east Chittagong Hills. A herd of 20–25 wild elephants was reported as being present in the Garo Hills of Mymensingh in the late-1990s, being detached from a big herd in the Peack hills of India and prevented from returning by fences put up in the meantime by the Indian border security force. The herd was estimated at about 60 individuals in 2014.
Asian badger
Asian badgers have a large range including the southern portion of Russia east of the Urals, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, China, and Korea. The species can be found within areas of high elevation (perhaps up to ) in the Ural Mountains, the Tian Shan mountains, and the Tibetan Plateau. The ranges of Asian and European badgers are separated in places by the Volga River. Asian badgers prefer open deciduous woodland and adjacent pastureland, but also inhabit coniferous and mixed woodlands, scrub and steppe. They are sometimes found in suburban areas.
Asian elephant
At most seasons of the year, Asian elephants are timid and much more ready to flee from a foe than to attack. However, solitary rogues are frequently an exception to this rule, and sometimes make unprovoked attacks on passers-by. Rogue elephants sometimes take up a position near a road, making it impassable to travellers. Females with calves are at all times dangerous to approach. When an Asian elephant makes a charge, it tightly curls up its trunk and attacks by trampling its victim with feet or knees, or, if a male, by pinning it to the ground with its tusks. During musth, bulls are highly dangerous, not only to human beings, but also to other animals. At the first indications, trained elephants are secured tightly to prevent any mishaps. There is also one case of a rogue elephant having actually consumed a human, an attack merited to be extremely unnatural. The elephant, a rogue female, had previously lost her calf to an accident involving farmers. This grievous loss led the elephant to target humans first as a threat, and then as a food source as her mental state deteriorated until she was finally killed and later dissected, revealing through DNA analysis that she had indeed consumed human flesh. The incident was revealed to the general public in several articles and in the Animal Planet documentary "World's Deadliest Towns: Man-Eating Elephant".
Rosamond Gifford Zoo
In December 2007, the Onondaga County Legislature approved a six million dollar expansion of the elephant exhibit with the expectation that the expansion will allow the elephant breeding program to grow in the future. In August 2011, it was completed and dubbed as the "Asian Elephant Preserve". The exhibit is home to the zoo's famous Asian elephant herd. The new exhibit features a spacious yard and a new holding facility with room for up to 12 elephants.
Elephants in ancient China
Elephants still survived in the southwestern provinces of China after the extinction of the Chinese elephant, but they are of a different subspecies, the Indian elephant, "Elephas maximus indicus". A native population of these remains in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan province.
Asian elephant
Asian elephants are quintessential flagship species, deployed to catalyze a range of conservation goals, including:About half of the global zoo elephant population is kept in European zoos, where they have about half the median life span of conspecifics in protected populations in range countries. This discrepancy is clearest in Asian elephants: infant mortality is twice that seen in Burmese timber camps, and adult survivorship in zoos has not improved significantly in recent years. One risk factor for Asian zoo elephants is being moved between institutions, with early removal from the mother tending to have additional adverse effects. Another risk factor is being born into a zoo rather than being imported from the wild, with poor adult survivorship in zoo-born Asians apparently being conferred prenatally or in early infancy. Likely causes for compromised survivorship is stress and/or obesity.
Elephant
The ban allowed the elephant to recover in parts of Africa. In January 2012, 650 elephants in Bouba Njida National Park, Cameroon, were killed by Chadian raiders. This has been called "one of the worst concentrated killings" since the ivory ban. Asian elephants are potentially less vulnerable to the ivory trade, as females usually lack tusks. Still, members of the species have been killed for their ivory in some areas, such as Periyar National Park in India. China was the biggest market for poached ivory but announced they would phase out the legal domestic manufacture and sale of ivory products in May 2015, and in September 2015, China and the United States said "they would enact a nearly complete ban on the import and export of ivory" due to causes of extinction.