Asiatic Elephant (Elephas maximus)

GS 3 – Environment & Ecology

Geographic Range

• Native to South and Southeast Asia
• Found in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia (Sumatra)
• India hosts over 60% of the global population of Asian elephants.

Conservation Status

Agency	Status
IUCN Red List	Endangered
CITES	Appendix I
Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 (India)	Schedule I

 Threats

• Habitat loss and fragmentation
• Human-elephant conflict
• Poaching (mainly for ivory, though only males have tusks)
• Linear infrastructure (roads, railways causing elephant deaths)
• Climate change affecting forest ecosystems

Conservation Efforts in India

Project Elephant (1992)

• Launched by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC)
• Focuses on:
  • Elephant population protection
  • Habitat restoration and corridor conservation
  • Human-elephant conflict mitigation

Elephant Reserves

• 33 notified Elephant Reserves across India
• Major states: Karnataka, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh

Gaj Yatra

• Launched by the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) to raise awareness for elephant corridors.

Elephant Corridors

• Around 101 identified corridors across India (as per WTI)
• Aim: connect fragmented habitats for unhindered elephant movement.

Legal and International Protection

• Protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972
• Part of India’s commitments under CITES and Convention on Migratory Species (CMS)
• India declared the elephant as the National Heritage Animal in 2010.