Since 1979, African elephants have lost over 50% of their range and this, along with massive poaching for ivory and trophies over the decades, has seen the population drop significantly. This video excerpt from that film explores the history of the ivory trade and the resulting devastation of Africa’s elephant population—from 26 million elephants in … Mozambique has fewer than 10,000 elephants in the whole country, a loss of 48% in the last five years. Share Tweet Get Stories like this . Elephants in Africa are being slaughtered for their ivory tusks at rates causing severe population declines across the continent. The African elephant is the largest living land animal and large males weigh up to 6.3 t (7 tn.). It inhabits a much-reduced range in savannah, brush, forest, river valleys, and semi-desert regions of Africa south of the Sahara. It was sent to me by a TSW reader who wanted to know if there is any connection between the absence of fathers and the shocking growth of the American prison population. The Center is working to save Africa's savannah and forest elephants from extinction. Elephants are herbivores, which means they eat only plants. Produced to accompany the National Geographic film Battle for the Elephants, which explores the history of and economics behind the brutal slaughter of African elephants for their tusks, this short video takes us into the world of the African elephant—a world where survival is increasingly at risk. PH December 17, 2015, 11:50 am 1 Comment. by. As filmmaker and elephant expert Cynthia Moss shows in THE ELEPHANTS OF AFRICA, elephants are all over the continent. 1.2k. From these depots, ivory was taken across the Mediterranean to Europe or to Central and East Asia, though the latter regions could easily acquire ivory from southeast … While southern Africa’s elephant population on the whole is mostly stable, the rest of the continent has seen a catastrophic decline. Loxodonta africana currently occur in sub-Saharan Africa, with the majority of the population living in the savanna of southern, western, and eastern Africa and the forest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire) (Spinage 1994). Some say that the elephant was once human, tricked by her husband into taking the form of an animal. Africa. 27 fascinating African Proverbs About Elephants, One of the Big 5 Animals. On top of this elephants suffer from habitat loss, human-elephant conflict and more. Art, History & Culture. Back in the early part of the 20th century, there may have been as many as 3-5 million African elephants… Forest elephants, a distinct subspecies of African elephants, are uniquely adapted to the forest habitat of the Congo Basin, but are in sharp decline due to poaching for the international ivory trade. African elephants range throughout the savannas of sub-Saharan Africa and the rainforests of central and West Africa. in Animals, Art, History & Culture. 27 fascinating African Proverbs About Elephants, One of the Big 5 Animals. SHARES. Ongoing and future genetic studies of elephants throughout Africa will ultimately determine their classification. The continent’s northernmost elephants are found in Sahel area of Mali. African elephants live in areas that are south of the Sahara Desert while Asian elephants are … Elephants are the largest land mammal and can be found in both Asia and Africa. An elephant does not die from one broken rib. In these years, traders transported ivory from West Africa along the trans-Saharan trade routes to the North African coast or brought East African ivory up in boats along the coast line to the market-cities of north-east Africa and the Middle East. I found Dr. Horn’s story about young elephants to be simply fascinating, and you will too. In the early 2000s, Asian demand for ivory began to rise steeply, and poaching in Africa rose again to crisis levels. The Congo Conflict also created a perfect environment for poachers, and elephants and rhinoceroses began to be killed at dangerous levels again. Tanzania has lost 60% of its elephants in the last five years, down to just 44,000. It is estimated that probably one quarter to one third of the total African elephant population is made up of forest elephants.