The Asian (Indian) elephant is very different from the ones that live in Africa. An Indian animal weighs up to five with a half tons. Its height is 2.5-3.5 m. Elephants have rather modest tusks about one and a half meters in length and weighing up to twenty-five kilograms. If the animal does not have them, it is called makhna.
Asian elephants have small ears, sharp and elongated at the ends. They can boast of a powerful physique. The legs are relatively short and thick enough. Indian, or Asian, the elephant on the forelimbs has five hoofs, and on the back – only four. His strong, powerful body is guarded and protected by thick, wrinkled skin. On average, its thickness is 2.5 centimeters. The softest thin areas are inside the ears and near the mouth.
The color of the animals can vary from a dark gray to a brown color. Very rarely there are Asian elephants-albinos. Such unique animals are very much appreciated in Siam, they are even a subject of worship there. Their main feature is a light skin, on which there are more bright spots. The eyes of the albino are also unusual, they have a light yellow hue. There are even such specimens, in which the skin is pale red, and whitish hair grows on the back.
The absence of tusks in Asian elephants and their small size in those individuals that have them, saved the animals from being ruthlessly destroyed, as was the case in Africa.
Wild Asian elephants live in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, the islands of Sumatra and Borneo, and even in Brunei. They live in national parks, inaccessible areas and reserves. Elephants like to ruin rice plantations, as well as thickets of sugar cane, to cut off banana trees. For this reason, they are considered pests of agriculture, so they prefer to push them to distant territories, so as not to lose crops.
Indian elephants adore subtropical and tropical forests (broad-leaved) with dense thickets of shrubs and bamboo. In the summer they prefer to climb mountains. In a strong heat giants wag their ears, thus cooling their body.
