India: Mahout on an elephant; gouache on paper; Murshidabad, India; 18th century, artist unknown

The Indian Elephant (Elephas maximus indicus) is one of three recognized subspecies of the Asian elephant, and native to mainland Asia.

In general, Asian elephants are smaller than African elephants and have the highest body point on the head. The tip of their trunk has one finger-like process. Their back is convex or level. Indian elephants reach a shoulder height of between 2 and 3.5 m (6.6 and 11.5 ft), weigh between 2,000 and 5,000 kg (4,400 and 11,000 lb), and have 19 pairs of ribs. Their skin color is lighter than of maximus with smaller patches of depigmentation, but darker than of sumatranus. Females are usually smaller than males, and have short or no tusks.

Indian elephants are native to mainland Asia: India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand, Malay Peninsular, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and China. They inhabit grasslands, dry deciduous, moist deciduous, evergreen and semi-evergreen forests.

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