African elephant: strong, smart, but vulnerable
Help us protect these incredible, intelligent giants.
African elephants species:
Affected by: Illegal wildlife trade , Human wildlife conflict , Habitat loss and fragmentation
How lucky are we to share our planet with incredible giants like this? But huge numbers of these unique-looking, intelligent animals are being brutally killed to fuel the growing demand for their ivory.
Around 90% of African elephants have been wiped out in the past century – mainly due to the ivory trade. Elephant poaching, even though it’s illegal, has been getting dramatically worse in parts of Africa in the last 10 years – mostly because of growing demand for ivory in China and the Far East. Around 20,000 African elephants are being killed every year for their ivory - that's around 55 every day
We're doing all we can to help, from monitoring herds, to training community rangers and protecting habitat. In safeguarding elephants, we’re also helping support local communities through measures to reduce human-elephant conflict and initiatives to support local livelihoods. We need your help to protect them.
Jenny Cousins Regional Manager, East Africa“African elephants are fascinatingly intelligent and socially complex animals, and one of Africa’s most iconic species. But living in close proximity to elephants can be a challenge and the demand for ivory continues, meaning that tens of thousands of elephants are killed every year for their tusks. This had led to a situation in which more African elephants are being killed by poachers than are being born. By working in collaboration with local communities, governments and other NGOs, we’re helping to find solutions that work for everyone, ensuring that the benefits of conserving elephants reach those who are impacted by the costs.”
Where African elephants live
African elephants are found in 37 countries in sub-Sahara Africa, with an estimated 70% in Southern Africa, 20% in Eastern Africa, 6% in Central Africa and 3% in West Africa.
Elephants need a lot of land to find enough food and water. They can roam across more than 30,000 sq km. But the space available to elephants in Africa has more than halved since 1979.
They’re still doing well in some secure areas, where numbers are even increasing, but in other places they’ve been forced to live in smaller, isolated groups and their numbers are getting dangerously low.
Why African elephants are so important
Elephants play an essential role in their environment. They're ‘landscape architects’ – for instance as they move around and feed, they create clearings in wooded areas, which lets new plants grow and forests regenerate naturally.
And then there’s seed dispersal. When elephants eat seed-bearing plants and fruits, the seeds often re-emerge undigested. It’s the way a lot of plants spread. And elephants can eat big seeds that small animals can’t.
Without elephants, the natural structure and functioning of their landscapes would be very different, which would have impacts on the other wildlife and the people who share that space.
Local people depend on natural resources found in elephant habitats, for example for food, fuel and income. As one of Africa’s wildlife ‘big five’, elephants are popular with tourists, which can be an important source of income for communities.
By helping protect elephants we’re also helping make sure their environment and its natural resources are available for generations to come.
Challenges affecting african elephants
Illegal wildlife trade
African elephants are vulnerable to poaching for their tusks, with on average 55 elephants illegally killed every day. The overall African elephant population plummeted by over 20% in the past decade, mainly due to poaching for ivory. Although there is an international ivory trade ban, huge quantities of ivory are smuggled to Asia by organised international criminal networks. China, Hong Kong, Thailand and Vietnam all have large illegal and legal ivory markets, where ivory is seen as a luxury status symbol. Often in these countries, legal ivory markets are used as a cover to launder illegal ivory and they also stimulate demand for it.
Find out more about the illegal wildlife trade
Challenges affecting african elephants
Threats from climate change
African elephants need to drink around 250 litres a day. However as the climate changes, temperatures in Africa are rising and rain is becoming less frequent. This has a direct effect on elephant populations, as resources become scarcer in the prolonged and harsher periods of drought.
More about climate change
