Forest elephants

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Forest elephants

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Forest elephant populations smaller than previously thought

Posted on May 18, 2020 by Team Africa Geographic in the DECODING SCIENCE post series.

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A new study conducted by an international research team suggests that the population of forest elephants is between 40-80% smaller than previously believed. The authors of the study stress the necessity for further research into forest elephant behaviour and, importantly, their population sizes.

Forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) are found only in the rainforests of Central and West Africa and in 2010 were declared to be a distinct species separate from the more widespread African savannah elephant (Loxodonta Africana). Forest elephants tend to be shy and cryptic, and often inhabit relatively inaccessible areas and, as a result, their demographics and social behaviours are not as well-researched or understood as those of the other elephant species. Unlike savannah elephants that live in large herds of related females and their offspring, forest elephants are understood to be less social, occurring in groups of two or three related females.

The decline of forest elephants has been well-documented by several previous studies, including one which reported a loss of over 80% of the forest elephant population over a decade in north-eastern Gabon due mainly to habitat loss and poaching. This particular study focused on the Industrial Corridor linking Loango and Moukalaba-Doudou National Parks in Gabon, described as a “bastion” for forest elephants, estimated to contain around 10% of Africa’s forest elephants by a previous study (approximately 10,000).

Researchers used a method known as genetic capture-recapture to assess the forest elephant population size of the Corridor. This involved collecting dung and analysing the DNA samples to build up a genetic database for each elephant, which in turn helped to prevent overcounting, as previous studies could not differentiate where one elephant had deposited more than one separate dung pile.

The use of this new method yielded unexpected results regarding the social structure of the Corridor elephants, suggesting that their social structure may be more variable than previously thought and that herds, unlike those of savanna elephants and other forest elephants, do not necessarily consist of closely related females. More concerningly, the use of the genetic capture-recapture method suggested that the Corridor was home to between 0.47 to 0.80 elephants per square kilometre, translating to between 3,000-6,000 elephants in the entire Corridor region. The differences in estimated numbers came from using two different models to calculate the population size.

The extent of the previous overestimation is worrying, as Gabon is believed to be the stronghold of Africa’s forest elephants. Professor Ting, one of the authors, says that this research “shows how endangered they really are if a region like this one is so overestimated”.

He emphasises that forest elephants are urgently threatened and that more research is essential to understand just how many there are left in the wild. Future conservation strategies will need to be conceived with the most accurate available data so that efforts can be directed to best prevent the loss of the least understood of all elephant species.

The full report can be read here: “Abundance, density and social structure of African forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) in a human-modified landscape in southwestern Gabon”, Brand, C., Johnson, M., et al, (2020), PLOS One.


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Re: Forest elephants

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African forest elephants listed as critically endangered by world conservation body

By Don Pinnock• 25 March 2021

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Photo by Don Pinnock.

After years of claims and counterclaims about the status of Africa’s two elephant species, the world’s largest environmental organisation has finally listed them as being under extreme threat.

The African forest elephant has just been classified as critically endangered by the Red List of Threatened Species compiled by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the savanna elephant has been listed as endangered.

A report by the IUCN’s African Elephant Specialist Group found that in the past 50 years, savanna elephants had been reduced by more than 60% and in the past 31 years forest elephants had crashed by 86%. In both cases, it said, the decline is “continuing and likely irreversible”. This has been caused by poaching and habitat fragmentation.

Elephants once roamed over most of Africa in their millions, but a recent continent-wide survey conducted by Elephants Without Borders found the combined numbers or both species had plummeted to around 415,000.

Since the IUCN Red List of 2008, the Central African elephant population (mostly forest elephants), whose population comprises about a quarter of all African elephants, was listed as more threatened than savanna elephants. This was partly because forest elephant ivory is harder than savanna elephant ivory and was preferred by Japanese ivory carvers, as it can be carved into very fine detail.

A 2016 study also found that forest elephants reproduce more slowly and have a longer generation time (31 years) than savanna elephants. They start to breed at a later age and with longer intervals between calves. So they’re more vulnerable to poaching than their savanna cousins and cannot “bounce back” as rapidly from population reductions.

Since its very first Red Listing in 1986, the African elephant was assessed as a single species (with the exception of 1996, when it was listed as endangered, but then downlisted again).

“Finally, it’s been acknowledged that there are not ‘too many elephants’ roaming the African continent,” said Smaragda Louw of Ban Animal Trading. “When the two species were not separated, they were classed as vulnerable.”

According to Audrey Delsink of Humane Society International-Africa “the separate listing of the two species and the recognition of their decreasing numbers, whilst a devastating marker of our biodiversity, is long overdue. But it’s a positive step towards crucial protective measures.

“We now have rigorous scientific data that cannot be disputed, showing that the status quo simply can’t be maintained. We need much stronger action against threats to the species, which include habitat loss, human-elephant conflict and trophy hunting.

“As a keystone species, the loss of elephants from our ecosystem will have devastating cascade effects. Let’s not waste any further time using this status listing to take decisive, hard, unified protection.”

Besides the threat of international trade in ivory, a growing crisis for forest elephants is the decline in forest fruits. A study published in September 2020 found that climate change had caused an 81% decline in fruit production over the past 30 years (1986-2018) in Lope National Park in Central Gabon. That resulted in an 11% decline in the condition of elephants.

According to the IUCN, “given the overall declining trend of both African elephant species, donors and governments need to increase their support to elephant range states to ensure that their populations start to stabilise and begin a route to recovery.

“It’s vital that international efforts are intensified to stop ivory trafficking all along the chain, from the source in the forests and grasslands of Africa all the way to its destinations, across the globe. With this new classification, there is no time to wait.”

In 2007, South Africa, Botswana and Namibia managed to persuade the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to downlist elephants from Appendix 1 (highest protection) to Appendix 2 (less endangered) and permitted a one-off sale of ivory. However, the CITES conference in 2019 slapped a total ban on the trade in live, wild-caught African elephants to destinations outside of the African elephant range. The IUCN finding backs this assessment. DM/OBP


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Re: Forest elephants

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The African savanna elephant was reclassified as Endangered, too!


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Re: Forest elephants

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The African forest elephant has just been classified as critically endangered by the Red List of Threatened Species compiled by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the savanna elephant has been listed as endangered.


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Re: Forest elephants

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UNDERSTANDING THE MAGNIFICENT, INTELLIGENT, AND CRITICALLY ENDANGERED FOREST ELEPHANT
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AG-STORIES.png (2.88 KiB) Viewed 798 times
by Josh Clay - Thursday, 12 August 2021

Whenever African elephants are mentioned, it is understandably the savannah elephant (Loxodonta africana) that receives the most headlines....................................Click on the title to continue..


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Re: Forest elephants

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WWF: Africa's elephants are on the brink of extinction

In the last century the number of elephants on the African continent has drastically collapsed, from an estimated 12 million a century ago to the 415,000 reported in the last census

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© WWF

Poaching today remains the main cause of the decline of both African elephant species. An estimated 20,000 elephants are killed each year for the illegal ivory trade. Added to this are the killings generated by the conflicts between elephants and local communities, growing due to the transformation of forest and savannah areas into crops. Over 95% of African elephants have already been lost in 100 years.

This is why the WWF is launching the «Sos Elefante» campaign. WWF has been conducting conservation programs in Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Gabon for more than 30 years.

The WWF project «A forest for elephants» will take place in the territory of Tridom (Gabon, Cameroon, Republic of the Congo), within which the Ntokou Pikounda park is developed, the last outpost for the conservation of forest elephants. The project includes study and monitoring actions and the strengthening of the anti-poaching system.


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