The ‘red-list’ is a regularly updated review of the globe’s most at-risk species. It is conducted by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. After recent reconsideration on the merits and scientific precedent for reclassifying the African elephant into two different species, this is the first such survey to look into the forest and savanna Elephant as two distinct species.
The survey found that both species of African elephant are in danger of extinction. The forest elephant has been classified as critically endangered. The savanna elephant, previously considered vulnerable, is now considered endangered. This classification means it is more at risk than was previously thought.
This is the first study from a major conservation-based organisation to classify the two species as independent of one another. Cites, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, one of the globe’s fiercest instigators in the field of elephant conservation considers the species’ one and the same.
Indeed the two species, aside from their obvious differences in preferred habitat, look very similar. The forest elephant is slightly shorter, has a more oval-shaped ear and has straighter tusks. But, due to well-publicised instances of breeding between this forest-dweller and its savanna cousins, these differences have largely been considered variations of the same species. Despite this being the established line of thinking, there has long been disagreement on the fact.
The discovery that the forest elephant, which is most prevalent in Gabon’s Congo basin, has a longer gestation period, coupled with increased conviction that this broader definition of the species is in fact undermining the ability to implement tailored conservation programmes for the two species, has finally resulted in this landmark decision.
Different threats for different species
Elephant conservation in Africa faces a great many complications. Here in the Tsavo Conservation Area, everyday we bare witness to a significant number of these threats. Habitat loss, poaching and conflict between human populations and elephant are just a few.
We know that each of these areas of concern warrant individual and specific conservationist methods to combat them. And we cannot presume to think that these methods would apply to the elephant that have long lived in the forests of west Africa.
Recently, this has formed a huge part of the argument for increased specificity in the classification of Africa’s elephants. According to Dr. Kathleen Gobush, who was a part of the IUCN’s study, “[t]his reclassification allows dedicated attention to each animal – the forest elephant and the savanna elephant – and then to tailor the conservation plans according to each species’ needs, which are different.”
Indeed, elephant specialists have long argued that the forest elephant is understudied. As a result of this oversight, there have been arguments to suggest that this smaller, less well-known species has been failed by broader-minded conservationist plans.
It is estimated that forest elephant numbers have dropped by 86% in the last 31 years. Savanna elephant populations have, by comparison, dropped by 60%. Neither of these statistics prove to be welcome reading for elephant conservationists in Africa.
Those writing the IUCN’s report were quick to point out that there have been regional successes. Tsavo’s elephant conservation programmes are considered successful for example. Due to careful management, and with the help of the Kenya Wildlife Services, Kenya’s elephant population has managed to grow to the roughly 36,000 individuals it has today.
The IUCN also felt it necessary to point out that that previous conservationist methods have been a complete failing to the forest elephant.
There have been arguments made, for example, to suggest that the disparity between the two population decrease figures is just as likely caused by the fact that habitat loss is far more destructive for the forest elephant than it is for its savanna cousins. Either way, it is clear that conservation methods need to be updated for both species if we are to reverse this trend of population decrease.
In fact, it is this threat to elephant conservation that the co-chair of the IUCN wants to most highlight with the publication of this report. Dr. Ben Okita-Ouma, who is also head of monitoring for Save the Elephants, said “As much as we may see that poaching has gone down in many countries, there is this silent killer of habitat fragmentation and habitat loss.”
This is an especially complicated issue for elephant conservation. And one that does not have an easy solution. Human populations are growing in many parts of the world and especially so in Africa.
These growing population bases have a different relationship to wildlife in general, and elephant specifically, to many of our readers in Europe or the Americas. Elephants are, to the western perspective, largely considered in the abstract. They are known for their majesty, wisdom and beauty, but only from afar. Here in Africa, however, their presence is reality, and often a dangerous one.
Elephant are frequently brought into contact with pastoralists and arable farmers. Where these contact points emerge, conflict often follows. Recently, we wrote an article on an individual who may well have been Kenya’s most prolific elephant poacher.
His story is one of regret and turning his back on the life he’d lived for over a decade. In his beginnings as a poacher, the man, Keyoso Lekoloi, illustrates how it was the elephant’s destruction of his last remaining cow that lead him into the life hunting the beasts.
If you want to read the article in full, you can access it here.
We hope that this reclassification of the African elephant into two distinct species aids in elephant conservation. In the meantime, we, at the Tsavo Trust, will continue monitoring Tsavo’s elephants as best we can.
Feel free to read the rest of our news pieces, for more information on elephant conservation in Kenya, and how you can help.