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Research
Illegal killing for ivory drives global decline in African elephants.
Significance : Illegal wildlife trade has reached alarming levels globally, extirpating populations of commercially valuable species.
Illegal harvest for commercial trade has recently surged to become a major threat to some of the world’s most endangered and charismatic species. Unfortunately, the cryptic nature of illegal killing makes estimation of rates and impacts difficult. Applying a model based on field census of carcasses, to our knowledge we provide the first detailed assessment of African elephant illegal killing rates at population, regional, and continental scales. Illegal harvest for commercial trade in ivory has recently surged, coinciding with increases in illegal ivory seizures and black market ivory prices. As a result, the species declined over the past 4 y, during which tens of thousands of elephants have been killed annually across the continent. Solutions to this crisis require global action.
George Wittemyera, Joseph M. Northrupa, Julian Blancd, Iain Douglas-Hamiltonb,e, Patrick Omondif, and Kenneth P. Burnhama
Author Affiliations
Edited by Peter M. Kareiva, The Nature Conservancy, Seattle, WA, and approved July 22, 2014
(received for review March 3, 2014)
Elephant stands aside to rest of the pack and encourafes them to move away with bangs.
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¨Poaching is the hunting, killing of protected animals.
Elephant stands aside to rest of the pack and encourafes them to move away with bangs.
Elephants Intelligence
Elephant Cognition and Behavior : Our research questions specifically focus on convergent cognitive evolution and the expression of complex cognitive traits in the world’s largest land mammal.
The Brains of the Animal Kingdom : New research shows that we have grossly underestimated both the scope and the scale of animal intelligence. Primatologist Frans de Waal on memory-champ chimps, tool-using elephants and rats capable of empathy.
Brains behing bars (The latest research on the well-being of elephants in Captivity) : All the new evidence of elephant intelligence has intensified the debate about whether to continue keeping the creatures in captivity. Former elephant caretaker Dan Koehl maintains a thorough database of elephants around the world. He has records of 7,828 elephants currently in captivity: 1,654 in zoos or safari parks; 4,549 in "elephant camps" where tourists can ride the animals; 288 in circuses; and the remaining in temples, sanctuaries or private residences.
Elephants Behavior and Capacity
Elephants know when they need a helping trunk in a cooperative task : Elephants are widely assumed to be among the most cognitively advanced animals, even though systematic evidence is lacking. This void in knowledge is mainly due to the danger and difficulty of submitting the largest land animal to behavioral experiments.
Mental mettle : The modern elephant mind emerged from an evolutionary history that has much in common with our own. The African bush and forest elephants, the Asian elephant, and their extinct relatives, the mammoths, all began to assume their recognizable forms between three and five million years ago in Africa.
Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) reassure others in distress : The elephants’ behavior is therefore best classified with similar consolation responses by apes, possibly based on convergent evolution of empathic capacities.
Current Research
The African elephant and food security in Africa: experiences from Baringo District, Kenya
Dorothy A Armwata, Kevin Z Mganga
Luanda--the largest illegal ivory market in southern Africa
Esmond Martin, Lucy Vigne
Edward D Wiafe, Moses K Sam
Elephant genetics : Statement on the Taxonomy of extant Loxodonta (IUCN)
The AfESG strongly encourages further genetic and morphological studies.
