Asian elephants have a large and well-developed neocortex of the brain, are highly intelligent and self-aware being able to display behaviors associated with grief, learning, greeting etc.

The earliest indications of captive use of Asian elephants are engravings on seals of the Indus Valley civilisation dated to the 3rd millennium BC.

[2][8] Results of phylogeographic and morphological analyses indicate that the Sri Lankan and Indian elephants are not distinct enough to warrant classification as separate subspecies.

Their skin colour is darker than of E. m. indicus and of E. m. sumatranus with larger and more distinct patches of depigmentation on ears, face, trunk and belly.

[23] The oldest remains of the genus in Asia are known from the Siwalik Hills in the Indian subcontinent, dating to the late Pliocene, around 3.6-3.2 million years ago, assigned to the species Elephas planifrons.

[32] Asian elephants are distributed throughout the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, from India in the west, to Borneo in the east, and Nepal in the north, to Sumatra in the south.

They are known to feed on at least 112 different plant species, most commonly of the order Malvales, as well as the legume, palm, sedge and true grass families.

[57] Seasonal aggregations of 17 individuals including calves and young adults have been observed in Sri Lanka's Uda Walawe National Park.

Secretions containing pheromones occur during this period, from the paired temporal glands located on the head between the lateral edge of the eye and the base of the ear.

[83] They exhibit a wide variety of behaviours, including those associated with grief, learning, allomothering, mimicry, play, altruism, use of tools, compassion, cooperation, self-awareness, memory, and language.

[94] The main causes of human-elephant conflict includes the growing human population, large-scale development projects and poor top-down governance.

Proximate causes includes habitat loss due to deforestation, disruption of elephant migratory routes, expansion of agriculture and illegal encroachment into protected areas.

[95] Destruction of forests through logging, encroachment, slash-and-burn, shifting cultivation, and monoculture tree plantations are major threats to the survival of elephants.

Human–elephant conflicts occur when elephants raid crops of shifting cultivators in fields, which are scattered over a large area interspersed with forests.

[96] In a 2010 study, it was estimated that in India alone, over 400 people were killed by elephants each year, and 0.8 to 1 million hectares were damaged, affecting at least 500,000 families across the country.

Gunfire and other similar methods of deterring, which are known to be effective against many kinds of wild animals including tigers, may or may not work with elephants, and can even worsen the situation.

The practice has been aided by China's State Forestry Administration (SFA), which has issued licences for the manufacture and sale of pharmaceutical products containing elephant skin, thereby making trading legal.

[115][116][95] A key aspect of conservation is connectivity of the preferred movement routes of Asian elephants through areas with high vegetation cover and low human population density.

Conservation plans aimed to establish wildlife corridors, stop poaching of bulls, and protect or manage land area.

[121] Project Elephant was initiated in 1992 as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change of the Government of India.

During a 2003 survey, the local people expressed some form of disapproval towards the conservation of Asian elephants as farmers viewed them as pests, however, most of the participants were supportive of the idea.

As conflicts between humans and wild elephants have emerged around protected areas in the last years, the prefecture of Xishuangbanna built food bases and planted bananas and bamboo to create a better habitat.

[44] In Thailand, Salakpra Wildlife Sanctuary and Tham Than Lot National Park are protected areas hosting around 250–300 elephants, according to figures from 2013[update].

This discrepancy is clearest in Asian elephants: infant mortality is more than two to three times that seen in Burmese timber camps, and adult survivorship in zoos has not improved significantly in recent years.

One risk factor for Asian zoo elephants is being moved between institutions, with early removal from the mother tending to have additional adverse effects.

Another risk factor is being born into a zoo rather than being imported from the wild, with poor adult survivorship in zoo-born Asians apparently being conferred prenatally or in early infancy.

[129] Data from North American and European regional studbooks from 1962 to 2006 were analysed for deviations in the birth and juvenile death sex ratios.

[130] Young elephants are captured from the wild and illegally imported to Thailand from Myanmar for use in the tourism industry; calves are used mainly in amusement parks and are trained to perform various stunts for tourists.

[136] The Asian elephant became a siege engine, a mount in war, a status symbol, a beast of burden, and an elevated platform for hunting during historical times in South Asia.

[140] The Asian elephant plays an important part in the culture of the subcontinent and beyond, being featured prominently in the Panchatantra fables and the Buddhist Jataka tales.