Mar. 28, 2013 — African forest elephants are being poached out of existence. A study just published in the online journal PLOS ONE and supported in part by San Diego Zoo Global shows that a staggering 62% of all forest elephants have been killed across their range in central Africa, for their ivory over the past decade. The severe decline indicates what researchers fear is the eminent extinction of this species.
"Saving the species requires a coordinated global effort in the countries where elephants occur, all along the
ivory smuggling routes and at the final destination in the Far
East . We don't have much time," say Wildlife Conservation
Society conservationists Fiona Maisels, PhD, and Samantha Strindberg, PhD, the
lead authors.
The study -- the largest ever conducted
on the African forest elephant -- includes the work of more than 60 scientists
between 2002 and 2011, and an immense effort by national conservation staff who
spent a combined 91,600 days surveying elephants in 5 countries (Cameroon, Central
African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon and the Republic of
Congo), walking over 13,000 kilometers (more than 8,000 miles) and recording
over 11,000 elephant dung piles for the analysis.
The paper also shows that almost a
third of the land where African forest elephants were able to live 10 years ago
has become too dangerous for them. Results show clearly that forest elephants
were increasingly uncommon in places with high human density, high
infrastructure density such as roads, high hunting intensity, and poor
governance as indicated by levels of corruption and absence of law enforcement.
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