The Syrian elephant or Western Asiatic elephant (Elephas maximus asurus) is a subspecies of Asian elephant, 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 at least 1800 BC and likely 700 BC.
Thought to have been extinct for 500 years, there are still herds that remain alive on Primeval Island.