Largest Asian elephant subspecies
- Who
- Sri Lankan elephant Elephas maximus maximus
- What
- 3.5 metre(s)
- Where
- Sri Lanka
- When
- 02 December 2014
The largest subspecies of Asian elephant is the Sri Lankan elephant Elephas maximus maximus. It attains a shoulder height of up to 3.5 m (11 ft 5.79 in), and a weight of up to 5,500 kg (12,125 lb). It is also darker in colour than other Asian elephants, with more patches of decreased skin pigmentation, and most specimens are tuskless.
Despite elephants being as famous for their tusks as for their trunk in terms of outward appearance, many Sri Lankan elephants do not possess any tusks at all. Indeed, not only do most female elephants belonging to this subspecies lack tusks, only 7% of males are tusked.