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Here's a mnemonic means of recalling the differences between the African and the Indian elephant:

India's big, and its elephant there features
But Africa's bigger, with much bigger creatures.

Or put another way:

India's big, but Africa's bigger,
The same as their elephants - easy to figure!.

There is also another way to tell the difference. Generally speaking, the African elephant's large ears tend to resemble its continent. while the Asian elephant's ears resemble the outline of India!

Africa is over 11.6 million square miles in area.
The African elephant stands 10 or 11 feet high, weighs over 6 tons, has enormous ears and has two "fingers" at the tip of its trunk. Both sexes grow long tusks. It is more powerful and moves very much faster than its Indian cousin, and is very difficult to tame.

India is only about 1.3 million square miles in area.
The Indian (or Asiatic) elephant stands about 9 feet high, weighs about 3 tons, has small ears, a less convex forehead and has only one "finger" at the tip of its trunk. Only the males grow long tusks (the female tusks being so small as to be hardly seen). It is less powerful and moves more slowly than its African cousin, but is far easier to domesticate. White or albino elephants are regarded as sacred in Burma and Thailand.

Taxonomically speaking, elephants are mammals, and are the largest land animals in the world. They are the only living members of the order Proboscidea (ie. having a trunk or elongated nose with nostrils at the tip). All other members such as the Mammoth are extinct.