Decline of African Forest Elephants

"At least a couple…hundred thousand forest elephants were lost between 2002-2013… [this results to] at least sixty a day, or one every twenty minutes, day and night. By the time you eat breakfast, another elephant has been slaughtered to produce trinkets for the ivory market."

-          - Dr. Fiona Maisels

New data from Central Africa shows that between 2002 and 2013, 65 percent of forest elephants were killed. The elephants are being killed by poachers for their ivory tusks. As of December 2012, ivory tusks cost $150 per inch.

To fight against illegal ivory trade, many organizations collaborated in a study which was spread throughout five countries, over a period of twelve years. They had previously reported a decline of 62% in 2013. Over a period of one year an additional 3% of the population has been killed. Currently scientists of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) in London are discussing methods and approaches to reduce the amount of elephants poached for illegal purposes.

As of right now, the majority of remaining forest elephants are living in the nation of Gabon. Historically, forest elephants were primarily situated in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), but today 95% of elephants in the DRC are completely wiped out.

NOS Themes:

·                     Importance of repeatability: The study was repeated to understand current statistics.

·                     Science is Collaborative: The discovery was made by a group researchers from 5

countries collaborated through the WCS.

·                     Role of Credibility: The discovery is verified by the Wildlife Conservation Society and

the online journal PLOS ONE.

·                     Science is based on evidence: The scientists collected data over a period of 12

years through 5 countries.

Link to article: http://phys.org/news/2014-02-decline-african-forest-elephants.html

- Disha Manvikar