The elephant was once featured on old Thai coins and between 1819 and 1917 its symbol was a part of the Thai flag. For Kings, the elephant was a sign of power and was used as a vehicle of war.
Asian elephants are quite different from their African cousins.
They are somewhat smaller than the African species but the most striking difference is the much smaller ears. Like the African elephant, only the male grows tusks, however not all male elephants are blessed with this accompaniment and those without tusks are often stronger. The elephant has very small eyes in comparison to the size of its head and is short sited. To compensate for this, the animal has a wonderful sense of smell and its large ears amplify sound. These attributes alert the beast to danger long before it sees the threat.