India globally harbors the largest populations of the Asian elephant (Elephus maximus), which is a wide-ranging, large mammal species. The greatest threats to Asian elephants are habitat loss, fragmentation, and degradation; killing for ivory or in retaliation following human-elephant conflicts; and the loss of genetic viability resulting from small population size and isolation. Asian elephants now occur in only about 10% of their historical range and many of the remaining populations are both small and isolated. The growing human population has encroached on the elephant's habitat with around 20% of the world's human population living in close proximity to the Asian elephant. As a result the elephant populations have reduced drastically within a century.
Read more: Elephant Project