DISTRIBUTION AND HABITAT
Asia. It lives in various types of tropical forests, grasslands, thickets, mountain slopes up to 3000 m above sea level.
BEHAVIOUR
It leads a wandering lifestyle. Active during the day or night depending on food availability. The herd consists of adult females and juveniles of both sexes. Adult males live in separate groups or alone. Life expectancy: 60-70 years.
DIET
Grasses, sedges, legumes, palm trees, sea buckthorn, bamboos, tree roots and bark, flowers, seeds, fruits, crops. The diet includes over 80 species of plants. Foraging, it devotes from 14 to 19 hours a day.
REPRODUCTION
Females are able to reproduce between the ages of 13 and 16. Gestation: 18 to 23 months. The mother feeds the young with milk, usually up to the age of 2. Females give birth to cubs at intervals of four to six years.
GOOD TO KNOW
Reasons for the threat to the species: habitat loss and fragmentation, poaching to obtain ivory, skin and meat.
- Latin name: Elephas maximus
- IUCN –Red List – EN – Endangered
- CITES – Appendix I
- EEP – European Endangered Species Programme
