SYRIAN ELEPHANT

The 'Syrian elephant' ('''Elephas maximus asurus''') lived in the Middle East before becoming extinct by around 100 BC. It was the westernmost subspecies of the Asian Elephant.
Syrian elephants were among the largest elephants in historic times, measuring 3.5 meters (11.5 feet) or more at the shoulder.
Their massive weight and bulk made them useful as war elephants and they were considered to be among the best elephants for this use in antiquity. Being Asian Elephants, they were far easier to train than the African Elephants used by the Ptolemaic dynasty of Ancient Egypt. The Syrian Elephant was probably the standard war elephant of the Seleucid Empire as it was native to that realm, and possibly the animals used by Pyrrhus of Epirus in his invasion of Italy 280-275 BC as there was far less trade between Epirus and India than between Epirus and the Levant simply for reasons of distance.
When the Roman General Publius Cornelius Scipio invaded Carthage and defeated Hannibal at the Battle of Zama in 202 BC, he found one of Hannibal's elephants and learned that is was known as "Sarus" which means "The Syrian." It was said to be his best elephant - the usual Carthaginian war elephants, despite popular depiction, were the smallish North African Elephants, an African Bush Elephant population or subspecies also extinct today.
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 B.C, when the Aramaeans made splendid ivory inlay for furniture. This overhunting of Syrian elephants for ivory ultimately resulted in their extinction.

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★ Elephants and the Nabataeans