The Status of the Asian Elephant
The Status of the Asian Elephant
oday, according to IUCN's Species Survival Commission's
Asian Elephant Specialist Group, there are estimated to be between
38,000 and 51,000 wild Asian elephants (compared with more than
600,000 African elephants). Between 20,000 to 24,000 live in India,
mainly in the southwest and the northeast, with smaller numbers
in eastcentral India and in the foothills of the Himalayas.
They are largely restricted to hill areas because their natural
habitat in the fertile river valleys has been taken over by humans.
Despite their size, elephants are extremely difficult to count
in the forests, where they can remain undetected only a short
distance from the observer. To overcome this difficulty, a method
of estimating numbers from dung counts has been developed Richard
Barnes in Africa and adapted by Shanthini Dawson in Asia. However,
systematic censuses have not been attempted in most of the range,
and the population estimates given here are mostly tentative.
(see table)
Population estimates of the Asian Elephant
Country Numbers
Country Numbers
Country | Minimum |
Maximum |
Bhutan | 60 | 150 |
Burma | 5,000 | 6,000 |
Cambodia | 2,000 | 2,000(?) |
China | 250 | 350 |
India | 20,000 | 24,000 |
Indonesia | 2,500 | 4,500 |
Laos | 2,000 | 4,000(?) |
Peninsular Malaysia | 800 | 1,000 |
Borneo(Sabah& Kalimantan) | 500 | 2,000(?) |
Nepal | 50 | 85 |
Sri Lanka | 2,500 | 3,000 |
Thailand | 1,500 | 3,000 |
Vietnam | 300 | 400 |
TOTAL | 35,740 | 50,835 |
Sources: IUCN's Species Survival Commission's Asian Elephant Specialist Group; WWF Offices in Bhutan Nepal, Vietnam, and India.
*Bhutan has a seasonal population of 2,000 to 3,000 - mainly migrant elephants from India
**India's Project Elephant estimates there are between 17,000 and 24,000 animals
Warning: almost all figures are very approximate0

Country Status from West to East
India, Nepal, and Bhutan
India's 20,00024,000 wild elephants exist in
four regions. In the southwestern states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu,
and Kerala there are about 6,000 elephants. In the northeast,
up to 9,000 remain to the north of the Brahmaputra river, and
about 5,000 to the south. A population along the foot of the Himalayas
west of Nepal numbers around 500, while some 2,000 live in highly
fragmented populations in the states of Bihar and Orissa. Small
numbers of elephants in Nepal and Bhutan are essentially part
of neighbouring Indian populations. Recent reports from WWF's
office in Bhutan indicate that as many as 2,000 to 3,000 elephants
could migrate from India to Bhutan during the summer months. There
are about 2,500 domesticated elephants in the region.
Bangladesh
Elephant habitat in Bangladesh is confined almost entirely
to the forested hills of the east, and even there habitat is giving
way to monoculture plantations of teak, rubber, and tea. Only
200350 wild elephants are thought to survive, with herds
moving between Bangladesh and neighbouring India. There are 50
domestic elephants.
Sri Lanka
The island of Sri Lanka has been famed for its elephants.
In contrast to other areas of the Asian elephant's range, the
2,5003,000 elephants are found in the plains. In former
times they lived also in the central massif, but they were forced
out with the development of plantations for tea, coffee, and rubber,
and settlement by an expanding human population. Some 400500
domestic elephants are kept in Sri Lanka.
Burma
Extensive forests remain in Burma, despite increasing
deforestation. Lacking systematic surveys, the elephant population
is estimated at 5,0006,000. The largest number is in the
north, but elephants are found in many parts of the country. Burma
has 4,600 registered working elephants in the timber industry.
Thailand
Thailand has converted virtually all its lowland forests
in the heart of the country to agriculture and settlement. Elephants
are now confined to the hill forests. Over half the 1,300 to 3,000
elephants in the country are found in the western region bordering
Burma, where there are transborder migrations. In central Thailand,
there are elephants in Khao Yai National Park, and to the north
in the Petchabun range. Elephants are also present in east and
west Dangrak, bordering Cambodia.
From tens of thousands of working elephants
a century ago, the number of domesticated elephants dropped to
13,390 by 1950 and to below 5,000 in the early 1990s. According
to IUCN/SSC's Asian Elephant Specialist Group, "the population
has certainly gone down". (R Sukumar)
Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam
As elsewhere, elephants in IndoChina have been forced
by human settlement into mountainous areas, which form the borders
of the three countries and of the region with Thailand. More than
half of Laos's 2,000 to 3,000 elephants are found along the borders
with Vietnam and Cambodia and form a single population with 300
to 400 elephants in Vietnam, while most of Cambodia's 2,000 elephants
live in the mountains adjoining Thailand. There are still over
500 domestic elephants in Cambodia; 1,300 in Laos; and 300 to
400 in Vietnam.
China
China's once widespread elephant population has been reduced
to remnants in the extreme southwest of Yunnan province,
bordering Burma and Laos, where between 150 and 300 are thought
to survive.
Malaysia
(for Sabah see Borneo below)
In peninsular Malaysia, largescale conversion of lowland
forests to plantations, agriculture, and settlement has confined
elephants to hilly areas, where there are estimated 8001,000
in scattered groups. There are only a few domesticated elephants.
Indonesia
(for Kalimantan see Borneo below)
Between 2,500 and 4,500 elephants are thought to exist in Sumatra.
However, because of extensive conversion of forests to make way
for millions of people moved from overpopulated Java, Bali,
and Madura, the population is heavily fragmented, although still
distributed over most of the large island. The rulers of Aceh
province in the north once had large numbers of captive elephants,
but there are now only about 200 overall. In recent years, elephants
which were isolated or causing local problems have been captured
and trained for work.
Borneo
Elephants are not thought to be native to Borneo, but there
are between 500 and 2,000 in the northeast, where most are in
the Malaysian province of Sabah and the rest in adjoining Indonesian
Kalimantan. Although there is no firm evidence, it is considered
that these elephants are probably descendants of domesticated
elephants introduced to northern Borneo in past centuries.
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