Laos was historically known as the Lancang Kingdom.
In the Lao language, "Lancang" means "a million elephants." This is why Laos is also called "the Land of a Million Elephants" or the "Land of Vientiane." In fact, its current capital is named Vientiane.
Thus, Laos was historically abundant with elephants. Now, however, according to incomplete statistics, only about 1,200 remain, with less than half of them living in the wild.
Within Asia, India likely has the most elephants. Some reports claim there are about 31,000, but other—and most likely unreliable—statistics suggest the number of Indian elephants might exceed one million.
These are Asian Elephants. Earth, however, is home to even more African Elephants, with an estimated population between 400,000 and 600,000, spread across approximately 37 countries and regions.
