These hairs are made into rings and ornaments. The African elephant has much larger ears and holds its head higher than does the Asian elephant. Before white people began to settle in Africa, the African species ranged over the whole tropical region from sea level to the timberline of such snow-capped peaks as Kilimanjaro and Ruwenzori. Today African elephants are plentiful only in protected game preserves throughout Africa. The pygmy elephant is found in the Congo region and west-central Africa.
Some biologists regard it as a separate species, others as a subspecies of the African elephant.
It differs chiefly in its size and in the rounded shape of its ears. The pygmy elephant reaches a height of 7 feet and weighs more than a ton. The white elephants, occasionally found in Asia, are not a separate species but merely albino varieties of the common species. Elephant worship plays a part in several Oriental religions. The white elephant, however, is particularly honored in Thailand.