What’s the difference between the Asian elephant and the African elephant? [orig

The Asian elephant is one of the world’s rarest animals. Unfortunately, its sad condition has not been as well publicized as that of the African elephant. This is because Asian elephant’s ivory supplies only a small percentage of the world ivory trade. In fact, we know very little about the Asian elephant. They live in the remote forests of southern Asia and it is therefore very difficult to study them.  Most knowledge of Asian elephant is from those that have been captured or tamed. Asian elephants are easier to tame than African elephants. The elephants you see in the circuses and zoos are nearly always Asian.
     The major reason for decline of Asian elephants is the harm to their forests. The huge increase in the human population has caused the destruction of the Asian forest. As a result, the Asian elephants are compelled to scatter in different areas. Originally they lived all over the continent, but now there are only small isolated populations left. These isolated elephant populations are vulnerable to extinction. While Asian elephants are threatened by illegal capture and detaining, they are also killed for ivory and skin. Elephants are shot in the forest along the border between Thailand and Burma, and their skin was sold to factories in Bangkok where the skins were made into shoes, belts, suitcases, wallets, etc., and then sold to tourists.