Did You Know? Killer whales are the top predator in the ocean; a healthy adult can prey on anything that lives in the sea and has no predators of its own. View More Asian Elephant   » Bengal Tiger » Asian Elephant » Bald Eagle » Commerson's Dolphin » Bornean Orangutan » Humboldt penguin » Hawaiian Monk Seal » Red-legged seriema » Western Lowland Gorilla

Common name: Asian Elephant Scientific name: Elephas maximus Size: 8 to 10 ft. at the shoulder Weight: 6,000 to 11,000 lbs. females are smaller Diet: grasses, fruits, vegetables, leaves and bark Range:Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka and Sumatra Habitat: forests, adjoining grasslands and scrub Status: listed by U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service as endangered; protected by CITES. Fun Facts: Elephants communicate through touch, scent and sound. Scientists have documented elephants using low-frequency sound waves at infrasonic levels to communicate between members of the herd and individuals outside the herd. These sounds may carry for distances of up to 10 miles. What the Anheuser-Busch Adventure Parks are doing: In addition to caring for Asian elephants at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, the parks are committed to raising public awareness of the plight of elephants in the wild. The Asian elephants’ forest homes are seriously at risk due to commercial demand for forest-derived products such as coffee, tea, rubber and hardwoods. Crop cultivation, mining for iron ore and fl ooding by hydroelectric projects have also diminished the large tracts of land required by elephants for adequate food supplies. Only about 35,000 to 40,000 Asian elephants survive today throughout a discontinuous range in southeast Asia. The SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund has supported several elephant conservation and research projects throughout Asia and Africa. In Cambodia, the Fund supported a Conservation International project to secure the 100,000-acre Central Cardamom Forest and key buffer zones as safe haven for Asian elephants and other globally threatened species. The Fund also helped World Wildlife Fund protect critical habitat in the Tesso Nilo National Forest in Sumatra. In Africa, the Fund supported researchers focused on mitigating human-elephant confl ict in Amboseli, Kenya.