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.
We shouldn’t just protect elephants because they’re so iconic – they also play a vital role in their environment, for instance by shaping their habitat and spreading seeds.
By protecting elephants, we’re also helping support local communities, and making sure natural resources are available for generations to come. Let’s do all we can to protect them.
Cath Lawson Regional Manager East Africa"African elephants are fascinatingly intelligent 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. 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 that are impacted by the costs."
Where African elephants live
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. Elephant numbers are getting dangerously low in parts of central Africa.
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 around one elephant illegally killed every 25 minutes. The overall African elephant population plummeted by over 20% in the past decade, mainly due to a dramatic surge in ivory poaching. Although there is an international ivory trade ban, huge quantities of ivory are smuggled to Asia using 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 legal ivory markets are used as a cover to launder illegal ivory. WWF is calling for the urgent closure of domestic legal ivory markets worldwide, where they contribute to the illegal ivory trade and elephant poaching. Find out more about the illegal wildlife trade.
Find out more about the illegal wildlife trade
