It is estimated that there are around 400000 African elephants left in the wild and around 40000 Asian Elephants.
The Elephant is part of a group of mammals (afrotherian) related to , hyraxes , aardvark , elephant shrews , and golden moles and tenrecs and sea cows.
They evolved when Africa was relatively isolated from other landmasses between 105 and 40 mya , and during this time afrotherians likely were evolving and adapting to different ecological niches. Around 30 mya, Africa began to collide with Europe and Asia, and since then these areas have been closely associated.
