Tail length 120 to 50cm. Shoulder height 250 to 300cm. Cows weigh 2,720kg. The record documented age of a captive Asian Elephant is about 70 years old. A wide variety of grasses and other vegetable matter including cultivated crops such as bananas and sugar cane.
Herds form part of larger related groupings called clans.
Mature males live singly or in small groups and have no permanent ties with the females, although they may associate with them. Historical hunting of male 'tuskers' for ivory has led to a decline in numbers. Males removed in this way are unable to contribute to the gene pool. Because elephants require much larger areas of natural range than many other terrestrial mammals they are often the first species to suffer the consequences of habitat fragmentation and destruction. Ivory poaching does not threaten the Asian Elephant as much as it does the African Elephant.