Why do elephants endangered

They also are a burden for local communities that can erode their interest in and support for conservation. The KAZA Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation effort , anchored by Botswana, holds the largest contiguous elephant population on the continent, and that population has experienced strong growth over the past 50 years. This success reflects government collaboration across borders and work with local communities.

Joint international efforts to reduce the illegal ivory trade are raising awareness of the problems with ivory consumption. China banned domestic ivory trade in , and concurrently ivory poaching across many elephant populations in Africa declined — including in the largest populations in Tanzania and Kenya, which were under severe pressure less than 10 years ago. And researchers and conservationists are working to find solutions to conflicts between human activities and elephant needs that can be applied across Africa.

Elephants provide much more than just aesthetic benefits. Recent studies show forest elephants also play an important role in fighting climate change by enhancing carbon storage in central African forests , among the most important carbon reserves on the planet. The elephants disperse seeds and thin out young trees as they forage, which makes room for larger trees to thrive.

Elephants also are a linchpin of the wildlife-based economy across Africa. But if you take Download wallpaper PC iPhone. The elephant has the longest gestation period of any mammal at 22 months. Healthy adult elephants have no natural predators.

The WWF Wildlife Crime Scorecard report selects 23 range, transit and consumer countries from Asia and Africa facing the highest levels of illegal trade in elephant ivory, rhino horn and tiger parts. Archive Content Please note: This page has been archived and its content may no longer be up-to-date. Toggle navigation.

Language English. Instantly recognised around the world thanks to their trunks and tusks, elephants are the world's largest land animals. African elephant males are the biggest of the bunch, weighing in at up to 6 tonnes, while smaller Asian elephants can still tip the scales at 5 tonnes. Female elephants are social animals, living in herds with their relatives. Males usually live alone but sometimes form small groups with other males. All elephants need a lot of space, sometimes roaming over incredible areas to find enough food and water to sustain them.

But their habitats are shrinking. African elephants are known to travel in family herds with females and their calves staying together for many years. For centuries, elephants have been hunted for their tusks, either for trophies or for the art of ivory carving and jewelry making. Although the tusks or teeth of several mammal species including warthog, walrus, hippopotamus, and several whales are used as ivory, the tusks from African elephants and Asian elephants Elephas maximus are most desired by the global ivory market.

The African Elephant Conservation Fund provides millions of dollars in grants for on-the-ground projects that protect this amazing species.