01-14-2008, 06:24 PM
That is a very good question regarding a possible subspecies of Asian elephants that are much larger than the modern beasts of Asia.
Fact is, all we know about ancient Asian elephant fighters is what the ancient historians (mainly Greek and Roman) tell us. They had very little familiarity with India or Asia in general. The western powers got Asian elephants in two ways, by conquest and by purchase. Alexander captured around 200 Asian elephants from southern Pakistan and northern India. Then Seleucus basically traded Pakistan for 500 elephants from Chandragupta Maurya. After that, it was a mere trickle of beasts purchased from Indian kings.
In order to answer that question we will need an Indian scholar to search through India's ancient records to see if there is detailed information on exactly where the beasts were captured and if their size was greater.
Considering that 2000 years of microevolution have gone on in the Asian elephant population since ancient elephant warfare, I would think that significant changes may have occured in their biology. For instance, I read recently that Asian elephant males are becoming more frequently makhnas, tuskless, perhaps because males with great tusks are poached and thus no longer contribute to the gene pool. So tuskless males now have an evolutionary advantage. The modern lack of habitat may also cause modern elephants to become smaller, since they have more difficulty finding food and must travel greater distances to acquire it. So being huge is no longer any advantage at all to the species.
In ancient times, India's rulers set aside huge tracts of land like national parks for the purpose of keeping their war elephants fat and fed. So it is quite possible that the elephants were larger and healthier before the modern era.
John Kistler
Fact is, all we know about ancient Asian elephant fighters is what the ancient historians (mainly Greek and Roman) tell us. They had very little familiarity with India or Asia in general. The western powers got Asian elephants in two ways, by conquest and by purchase. Alexander captured around 200 Asian elephants from southern Pakistan and northern India. Then Seleucus basically traded Pakistan for 500 elephants from Chandragupta Maurya. After that, it was a mere trickle of beasts purchased from Indian kings.
In order to answer that question we will need an Indian scholar to search through India's ancient records to see if there is detailed information on exactly where the beasts were captured and if their size was greater.
Considering that 2000 years of microevolution have gone on in the Asian elephant population since ancient elephant warfare, I would think that significant changes may have occured in their biology. For instance, I read recently that Asian elephant males are becoming more frequently makhnas, tuskless, perhaps because males with great tusks are poached and thus no longer contribute to the gene pool. So tuskless males now have an evolutionary advantage. The modern lack of habitat may also cause modern elephants to become smaller, since they have more difficulty finding food and must travel greater distances to acquire it. So being huge is no longer any advantage at all to the species.
In ancient times, India's rulers set aside huge tracts of land like national parks for the purpose of keeping their war elephants fat and fed. So it is quite possible that the elephants were larger and healthier before the modern era.
John Kistler
John Kistler
writer, businessman, elephant lover
writer, businessman, elephant lover
