There are three species of elephant, the African savanna elephant, African forest elephant and the Asian elephant.
With the African species, Forest elephants have declined 86% between 1986 and 2015, African Bush elephants declined 60% 1965 and 2015 leaving just over 400,000.
One of the other issues with poaching is that elephants are very intelligent, and can communicate over long distances. As a result if for instance an elephant is killed in the north of the Kruger, elephants hundreds of miles south will become far more aggressive towards humans and cars. This in turn reduces the number of tourists that are willing to visit the reserve.
Perhaps one encouraging fact, is that the African savannah elephant has enough space for a far larger population if only poaching can come to an end. It is also a simple fact, that any reserve with elephants (like lions) can attract visitors- provided it is well run.
At various times over the last century, the elephant population has been decimated. Between 1979 and 1989 the elephant population halved. Even recently, between 2007
The first analysis of the genome of the Straight-tusked elephant (a long extinct species) may well rewrite the elephant family tree – while at the
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To much fanfare, the British government decided to ban the sale of Ivory 3 years ago. This is certainly a good thing. Unfortunately, they have
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While currently only exploratory, oil projects in the ecosystems of Namibia and Botswana potentially threaten the survival of 130,000 elephants – one of Africa’s last