Asian Elephant

Elephants are the largest living land animals, weighing in at an impressive six tonnes or more. They belong to the Order Probosidea, a group that has included over 175 species, including mammoths and mastodons, over the last 58 million years. Today, only three species remains. Two are in Africa and one is in Asia.

Asian Elephants were domesticated around 3000 BCE for transport, hunting, agriculture and war. Their use in war may have hindered Alexander the Great’s expansion into India. Although Alexander won his epic battle against Indian leader Porus at the Hydaspes River in 326 BCE, his soldiers had been terrified by Porus’ elephants and were reluctant to face any more. The army turned back a few months later.

An elephant’s trunk is made up of its nose and upper lip. The trunk contains over 150,000 micro-muscles, which makes it extremely sensitive and dextrous. It performs many functions, including breathing, smelling, feeding, drinking, trumpeting, showering and even snorkelling.

Elephant tusks (which are actually oversized teeth) are highly prized for their ivory and have led to enormous numbers of elephants being poached. Habitat loss and increasing conflict with humans over crop losses are also major threats. It’s estimated that there are about 28,000 to 42,000 Asian Elephants left in the wild and most of these are in India.

This is the skeleton of an elephant called Jumbo. Jumbo was a present from the king of Siam to Sydney's first zoo, the Moore Park Zoological Gardens. He was a key attraction in the early 1890s and used to provide rides to children and do work around the zoo.

When Jumbo died in 1896 at the age of 21, his skin and skeleton were sold to the Australian Museum for £5. Sadly, the skin went off but, luckily, the skeleton remains an important part of our collection.