#0261 · 🦊 mammals
Asian Elephant
🇳🇱 Aziatische Olifant ·Elephas maximus
8 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
what is it?
The Asian or Asiatic elephant ( Elephas maximus ) is the only living species of the genus Elephas and is distributed in Southeast Asia from India and Nepal in the west to Borneo in the east. Three subspecies are recognised— E. m. maximus from Sri Lanka, the E. m. indicus from mainland Asia, and E. m. sumatranus from the island of Sumatra. Asian elephants are the largest living land animals in Asia.
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- No confirmed wild sightings in the Netherlands on iNaturalist: you'd have to travel for this one.
- 11,441 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Weighs up to about 95 kg.
- Scientifically named in 1758 (268 years ago).
- Listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List.
fact sheet
- English
- Asian Elephant
- Nederlands
- Aziatische Olifant
- scientific name
- Elephas maximus
- class
- Mammalia
- order
- Proboscidea
- family
- Elephantidae
- IUCN Red List
- EN · endangered
- sightings in NL
- 0
- sightings worldwide
- 11,441
- GBIF records in NL
- 4
- weight
- 95 kg
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1758
IUCN in Dutch: bedreigd. Blank means the sources don't say.
relatives· Elephantidae
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 43697, Wikidata Q133006, GBIF 5219461, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.