Study shows dramatic decline in African elephants

This file photo taken on March 16, 2016 shows an African elephant at the Tsavo east national park of capital, Nairobi. ©AFP

A new study of African elephants shows a dramatic decline in savanna elephants populations, raising the alarm for the wildlife in the continent.

The 3-year aerial survey named as Great Elephant Census says a total of 352,271 elephants were counted. The number represents a decline of 30 percent between 2007 and 2014.

Currently the number of savanna elephants is declining at 8 percent a year, mainly due to poaching. Angola, Mozambique and Tanzania are places identified as poaching hotspots. In northeast Democratic Republic of Congo, northern Cameroon and southwest Zambia the elephant population faced local extinction.

An official from conservation organization Elephants Without Borders has questioned the hope for conserving the rest of Africa's wildlife with African elephants not being saved.


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