Asian Elephants In The Wild

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
CountryMinimum Maximum
Bhutan60150
Burma5,0006,000
Cambodia2,0002,000(?)
China250350
India20,00024,000
Indonesia2,500 4,500
Laos2,0004,000(?)
Peninsular Malaysia8001,000
Borneo(Sabah& Kalimantan)5002,000(?)
Nepal5085
Sri Lanka2,5003,000
Thailand1,5003,000
Vietnam300400
TOTAL35,74050,835


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

An elephant population map
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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Copyright 1996, The World Wide Fund For Nature