In Asian elephants, only the males have tusks. In some Asian countries, many of the males also lack tusks. The Asian elephant's tusks are elongated incisors that grow throughout an elephant’s life and are used in feeding, in displays during social encounters, and as weapons. Male Asian elephants can weigh over five tons; females typically weigh less than 3 tons. On average Asian elephants can live up to 80 years in captivity.  While there are over 15,000 Asian elephants in captivity, only about 32,750 are thought to roam wild in the tropical forests of Asia, less than a tenth of the number of wild African elephants. 

The biggest threat to Asian elephants is humans. As the human population grows, elephant/human conflicts increase resulting in the death of both humans and elephants in retaliatory incidents. The elephants ancient migratory routes are being disrupted due to the increasing human encroachment, isolating small, fragmented groups of Asian Elephants.  Each year in India, over 200 people are killed by elephants, and more than 100 elephants are killed in retaliation.  Habitat loss and poaching are the main reasons for the decline of Asian Elephants as they have no natural predators, however along with this, a lot of Asian Elephants are also caught and kept in captivity for the circus trade, for zoos, for religious and traditional displays and also for working. Elephants need lots of space and lots of food (an average of 150kg per day). As the forest is cut down to make room for farms, elephants destroy plantations and fields for food. They uproot and scatter other plants, trees, and groundcover as they forage. This creates conflict with farmers settling into elephant habitat. A single elephant can devastate a small farmer’s crop holding in one feeding raid. This makes elephants the target of retaliatory killings. Habitat loss creates the danger that elephants may soon be confined to habitat ‘islands’ as isolated populations that cannot follow ancient migratory routes or mix with other herds, and so may become inbred.

In 1989, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) banned the international trade in ivory. However the illegal trade of ivory from Asian and African Elephants still thrives.  Although most of this ivory comes from poaching of African elephants, Asian elephants are also illegally hunted for their ivory, as well as for their skin.