Asian elephants live in herds of about 20 and are very social.  Females live together with young elephants. Adult males live alone or they may live in a group of their own. 

Asian elephants are very intelligent and are usually very gentle if you leave them alone.  But they will attack if they feel afraid and kill hundreds of people each year. About 300 people are killed each year in India alone.

Asian elephants are endangered. There are only about 52,000 left in world. Many elephants are killed for their body parts and sometimes in retaliation for killing people. They also suffer because there are fewer places for them to live as people take over more and more of their habitat.

herds - groups

retaliation - fighting back

Asian elephant live to be about 60 years of age.

They weigh less than African elephants, from 4,500-12,000lbs (2000-5400kg). That's still heavy! It's about the same as 2 cars!

They are a bit shorter than African elephants too. They are 6.6-9 feet (2-2.7m) tall. This size difference means that African elephants are stronger than Asian elephants. But not by much. Asian elephants are still extremely strong!

Other differences between Asian & African elephants include:

• smaller ears

• a different head shape

• less wrinkled skin

• a single lip on their trunk

• no tusks for females (Both male & female African elephants have tusks)

Of course, the most interesting part of an elephant is its trunk! The trunk is both a nose and an upper lip used for smelling, drinking and for picking things up. The elephant can use it to suck water into the trunk and then blow it into its mouth. They can also use their trunks to blow water or dust on themselves to stay cool. 

tusk - a long tooth that comes out of the mouth

Asian elephants are herbivores and eat up to 300lbs (136kg) of food every day! They can travel up to 50 miles (80km) each day just looking for food.

They like roots, grasses, fruit and the bark of trees.

herbivores - animals that only eat plants

An Asian elephant baby is called a calf (plural: calves) They are about 3 feet / 1 metre tall when they are born and they weigh about 200 pounds / 91 kg.  They can walk as soon as they are born but can't see very well.

Elephant mothers are very protective.  They keep their babies very close to them. But they have help! Female elephants help each other take care of their babies.