oliphants.
Oliphants comprise one of two surviving genera in the order Proboscidea. Often referred to as the Asian Elephant, the Oliphant is distinguished from the Loxodont, or African Elephant, by its smaller, lower ears. Only male oliphants grow tusks.
The most common elephant in the world, it is nonetheless an endangered species. They are threatened by habitat loss and degradation driven by an expanding human settlements; between 2004 and 2008 ten were reported killed by trains.
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Oliphant
4 | Indian Oliphant
What we typically think of when we think of the Asian Elephant, it survives in separate ranges in southern India, the Himalayan foothills, northwest India, southern China, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and the Malaysian peninsula. Most males of this subspecies have tusks.
Oliphant
5 | Sri Lankan Oliphant
This is the largest and overall darkest of four subspecies Patches of depigmentation may be found on the face, ears, trunk, and belly. Herds of one to two dozen are led by the oldest female. It has a larger skull relative to body size. It is rare to find even males with tusks. Between 1990 and 1994, 261 died as a result of gunshot and land mines.
Oliphant
6 | Sumatran Oliphant
Found only in Sumatra, it is the second smallest subspecies, between 1.7 to 2.6 meters (5.5 to 8.5 feet) tall at the shoulder. It is sometimes called the pocket elephant because of its size. 70% of their potential habitat has been lost within the last 25 years.
Oliphant
7 | Borneo Oliphant
DNA evidence points to this oliphant as having become genetically different from other oliphants after wandering away from their cousins on the mainland 3,000 centuries ago. The smallest of the subspecies, they have long tails that may touch the ground, larger ears, and straighter tusks. They are also remarkably tame and passive. The population has declined by more than half over the last three generations.
Oliphant
8 | Vietnamese/Laotian Oliphant
The elephant population in Vietnam and Laos is undergoing mitochondrial DNA variation testing to determine whether it constitutes a fifth subspecies.
Oliphant
9 | Chinese Oliphant
A Chinese oliphant population is sometimes separated out subspecies-wise as E. m. rubridens (pink-tusked elephant). Formerly native to eastern China as far north as the Yellow River, this black-hided oliphant’s pink tusks purportedly were so sought-after it was hunted into extinction by c.1500 BC.
Oliphant
10 | Syrian Oliphant
Syria, you had an elephant. Yours was the westernmost of them all, Frequently mentioned in Hellenist histories, it went extinct around 100 BC. Hannibal had a war elephant known as Surus, suggested to mean “the Syrian,” said by Cato to have been his best and largest elephant.