The Syrian elephant or Western Asiatic elephant (Elephas maximus asurus) is the westernmost population of the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus), which became extinct in ancient times.
Skeletal remains of E. m. asurus have been recorded from the Middle East: Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey, from periods dating between 3 million years BC and 100 years BC.
Syrian elephants were among the largest Asian elephant subspecies to have survived into historic times, measuring 3.5 meters (11 ft 6 in) or more at the shoulder; on par with the largest reported Indian elephants.
Skeletal remains show it did not differ much from the Indian subspecies, except in size. Some depictions in ancient art show the Syrian elephant as having slender, curving tusks but it is still not sure.
In Western Asia, the elephants ranged from the mangrove forests of southern Iran, to southern Anatolia, the Syrian steppes and even extended to Palestine.
Ashurnasirpal II boasted of killing elephants (Syrian?), along with wild oxen and lions.
Some scholars suspect that the Asian elephants were artificial introductions to the Middle East, possibly from India, though this is difficult to prove.
It is believed they were thinly distributed extremely scarce even at best of times.
Hannibal had a war elephant known as "Surus"; it has been suggested to mean "the Syrian". It was said by Cato to have been his best (and biggest) elephant.
If it were in fact of native Syrian stock, or an imported Indian elephant, remains subject to speculation.
Ancient Syrian craftsmen used the tusks of E. m. asurus to make ivory carvings.
In Syria, the production of ivory items was at its maximum during the first millennium BC, when the Arameans made splendid ivory inlay for furniture.
This overhunting of Syrian elephants for ivory ultimately resulted in their extinction by around 100 BC.
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