Asians, who live in cooler forest areas, have smaller ears. Asians have rounded backs and relatively smooth skin. Africans display a sway back and very wrinkled skin. Among Asian elephants, only males grow long incisor teeth called tusks, and not all males have them. The trunks are also slightly different.
Asian elephants have one small finger-like projection at the end of the trunk.
The more than 100,000 muscles in the trunk make it very flexible and strong enough to lift whole trees. A similarity is in feeding habits. The elephants of the African savanna eat mostly grasses, turning to leaves, twigs, bark, flowers and fruits when the grasses are not available. Within an ecosystem, different species survive by avoiding competition for food. In any area, different animals eat specific things or feed at different times than their neighbors and therefore do not waste precious energy fighting for food.