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    Elephants: Facts

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    Angelo Huliganga
    The document provides facts about elephants, explaining why they are endangered and how their population has declined dramatically. It discusses the threats elephants face such as poaching and habitat loss, and provides suggestions for how to help protect elephants such as stopping the ivory trade and practicing sustainable tourism.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Elephants: Facts

    Uploaded by

    Angelo Huliganga
    156 views4 pages
    The document provides facts about elephants, explaining why they are endangered and how their population has declined dramatically. It discusses the threats elephants face such as poaching and habitat loss, and provides suggestions for how to help protect elephants such as stopping the ivory trade and practicing sustainable tourism.

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    The document provides facts about elephants, explaining why they are endangered and how their population has declined dramatically. It discusses the threats elephants face such as poaching and habitat loss, and provides suggestions for how to help protect elephants such as stopping the ivory trade and practicing sustainable tourism.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    156 views4 pages

    Elephants: Facts

    Uploaded by

    Angelo Huliganga
    The document provides facts about elephants, explaining why they are endangered and how their population has declined dramatically. It discusses the threats elephants face such as poaching and habitat loss, and provides suggestions for how to help protect elephants such as stopping the ivory trade and practicing sustainable tourism.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 4
    At a glance
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    The key takeaways are that elephant populations have declined dramatically due to poaching and habitat loss, and elephants play important ecological and economic roles that are being threatened.

    Some of the main threats facing elephant populations are poaching for ivory, habitat loss, and climate change leading to drought and reduced habitat availability.

    Elephants play an important role in maintaining biodiversity by dispersing seeds and creating habitat. They are considered a keystone species.

    ELEPHANTS

    FACTS
    • Elephants are the world’s largest land animals and one of our
    most iconic species.
    • In Africa, the elephant population has declined from 5-10
    million in 1930 to around 500,000 today. Over 20,000
    elephants are poached every year. Equally troubling, Asian
    elephants have seen their numbers decline from 200,000 to
    roughly 40,000 over the course of the last century.97 Only
    2500 Sumatran elephants are left on earth. This map shows
    the distribution of African elephants, while this map pinpoints
    the locations of Asian elephants.
    • Why do people say that elephants never forget? Elephant brains weigh almost 5 kilograms, the
    largest of any land animal, which gives them extraordinary memory storage and recall.
    • Elephants are one of the few animals on earth that can recognize themselves in a mirror—which
    means that they have a sense of self, distinct from others!
    • Elephants have saved humans from drowning!
    • Elephants are capable of complex thoughts and deep feelings, including love, anger, and sadness.98
    For instance, when two elephants are reunited, it is a highly emotional occasion. The greeting
    ceremony begins with exuberance and drama, concluding with expressions of what humans would
    describe as utter joy.99
    • Elephants’ sight is relatively poor, so they rely on smell and sound to guide their decisions, which
    explains their long and sensitive trunks.

    WHY THEY MATTER


    Economic Contribution: From books to films to poetry, elephants
    have inspired all of us for centuries. In very practical terms, Protect Our Species Primer and Action Toolkit
    elephants are “tourism magnets,” attracting funding that helps
    protect wilderness areas. Each African elephant generates at least
    $1.5 million annually100 in eco-tourism for the local economy—crit-
    ically needed resources for African communities. By one estimate,
    elephant poaching reduces African tourism by $25 million a year.101

    Role in the Ecosystem: Elephants are a keystone species, playing


    an important role in maintaining the biodiversity of the ecosys-
    tems in which they live. They flatten dense grasslands, creating
    habitat for smaller species. African elephants also dig water holes,
    which are used by other species. Elephants travel long distances
    in search for food, dispersing seeds contained in their waste along

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    the way, helping to generate new green growth.102 In some areas,
    species of plants and trees rely entirely upon elephants for seed
    dispersal for their survival.

    THREATS
    Poaching: The most severe threat facing African elephants is
    poaching and the now illegal global ivory trade. More than 100
    elephants are killed every day for their tusks. In recent years,
    poaching of elephants has increased exponentially, even in the
    face of global outrage and treaties, leading to dramatic reductions
    in this already vulnerable species.103 Asian elephants are being
    targeted by poachers for their skin which is used for commercial
    and medicinal purposes.104

    Habitat Loss: Habitat loss fuels a vicious cycle in the elephant ecosystem. Rising and expanding
    human populations reduce the habitat available to elephants, putting them in closer proximity to
    humans, leading to more elephant killings.105

    Climate Change: Elephants are already feeling the impacts of global warming. Droughts lead to food
    shortages and reduced habitat. Droughts also disrupt the mating season, which leads to fewer offspring.106

    HOW TO HELP
    Join the Movement to Stop the Ivory Trade: Illegal or legally sourced, the ivory trade is decimating
    our remaining elephants. China, once the world’s largest importer of ivory, and long considered the
    country most responsible for the decimation of elephants, recently joined the United States, declaring
    a near total ban on ivory sales. Nonetheless illegal trade continues throughout the world. Many coun-
    tries ban trade altogether but some, such as Great Britain, allow trade in antique or “certified” ivory,
    but those limitations are often ignored.

    Speak Up Against Trophy Hunting. The National Rifle Association and the Safari Club, both big-game
    trophy hunting groups, successfully petitioned the Trump Administration to reverse the Obama-era
    rules that banned imports of elephant tusks and other animal parts. Although our courts stepped
    in, Trump’s officials are still “studying the issue.” Let’s keep the pressure on. Write to Donald Trump
    and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and tell them to keep the ban! And tell the National Rifle
    Association and the Safari Club to back off.

    Protest Elephant Exhibitions: Elephants are used for a variety of human entertainment – from the
    circus to elephant-back rides – which contributes to their endangerment. It is important to speak out
    against these cruel practices.107 Protect Our Species Primer and Action Toolkit

    Practice Sustainable Tourism: Only travel with companies that are certified as sustainable. If you are
    fortunate enough to see an animal in the wild, make sure that your interaction is respectful.

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    ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
    ARTICLES/BLOGS/READINGS

    Basic Facts About Elephants – Defenders of Wildlife


    https://defenders.org/elephant/basic-facts
    This article gives basic background information about elephants including their diet, range, popula-
    tion size, and behavior among other info.

    End Illegal Wildlife Trade – Defenders of Wildlife


    https://defenders.org/end-illegal-wildlife-trade
    This article gives a brief description of the issues with the illegal wildlife trade and ways to combat it.

    Who Will Save the Elephants? Inside the race to make sure that the planet’s largest land mammal
    doesn’t just disappear – Vogue
    https://www.vogue.com/projects/13544708/save-the-elephants-elephant-crisis-fund/
    This is an article on elephant trophy hunting and conservation efforts.

    Human - Elephant Conflict – World Wildlife Federation


    http://wwf.panda.org/knowledge_hub/endangered_species/elephants/human_elephant_conflict.cfm
    This article highlights the issues elephants face as their habitat continues to shrink as well as showing
    the consequences of people living in the same area as elephants.

    VIDEOS

    Elephants 101 – National Geographic


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw6GkiCvcWs
    This video presents an overview of both Asian and African elephants - their habitat, way of life, and,
    unfortunately, their most pressing threats to their survival.

    TED-Ed: Why Elephants Never Forget – Alex Gendler


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSXNqsOoURg
    It’s a common saying that elephants never forget. But the more we learn about elephants, the more
    it appears that their impressive memory is only one aspect of an incredible intelligence that makes
    them some of the most social, creative, and benevolent creatures on Earth. Protect Our Species Primer and Action Toolkit

    STORYTELLING

    Elephant: King Of The Kalahari – National Geographic


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL_S4UjgdJ4
    Botswana is home to more African elephants than anywhere else in the world. Every year, thousands
    of elephants trek over 7,000 miles in search of food and life-giving water. The desert is a hostile place,
    especially as the dry season takes hold, so the elephants must use their strength and wit to survive.

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    OTHERS WORKING ON THIS

    Save the Elephants


    https://www.savetheelephants.org/
    Save the Elephants is an organization that both monitors the location of elephant species for conser-
    vationists and researchers as well as works with wildlife agencies to protect elephants from poaching.

    Elephant Aid International


    https://elephantaidinternational.org/
    Elephant Aid International works to promote greater educational awareness of elephants and pro-
    vides hands-on assistance to local caretakers of both wild and captive elephants.

    International Elephant Foundation


    https://elephantconservation.org/
    The International Elephant Foundation strives to create a sustainable future for elephants by support-
    ing elephant conservation, education, research, and management programs worldwide.

    REPORTS

    Status of African elephant populations and levels of illegal killing and the illegal trade in ivory –
    IUCN
    https://cmsdata.iucn.org/downloads/african_elephant_summit_background_document_2013_en.pdf
    The results of this report show that levels of poaching and the illegal ivory trade started to increase
    again in the mid-2000s, following an easing in the 1990s, the rate of increase jumping dramatically
    from 2009. The overall trend appears to be leveling off in 2012 compared to 2011, but still at an unsus-
    tainably high level.

    Elephants are the latest conflict resource – United Nations


    https://www.traffic.org/site/assets/files/4180/elephants_in_the_dust.pdf
    The African elephant, the largest remaining land mammal on the planet, is facing the greatest crisis
    in decades. Reports of mass elephant killings in the media vividly illustrate the situation across many
    African elephant ranges. This Rapid Response Assessment provides an overview of the current state
    of the African elephant alongside recommendations for action to ensure its protection.

    Protect Our Species Primer and Action Toolkit

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