We support efforts to determine the population status of elephants in sites across Africa and Asia to make our conservation projects more effective. WWF helps establish new protected areas within elephant ranges and improve management effectiveness within existing protected areas. WWF has been working since to reduce consumer demand for elephant ivory and ensure the ban is effectively enforced. Since then, Chinese consumer desire for elephant ivory has dropped and wholesale prices of elephant ivory, even on the black market, have declined. The real game changer is China-by far the largest market for elephant ivory-which banned domestic trade of elephant ivory as of January 1, 2018. After campaigns by WWF and other conservation groups, governments in problematic ivory markets like Hong Kong, Thailand, the US and the UK were pushed to take action to clamp down on illegal and unregulated domestic trade that was fueling the poaching. Poaching rates dropped following the action, but began to surge again around 2010, due to renewed consumer interest in purchasing elephant ivory, largely in Asia. In 1989, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES)-a global agreement among governments to regulate or ban international trade in species under threat-banned the international commercial trade in elephant ivory. As a result, as they lose habitat, they often come into conflict with people in competition for resources. On average, an elephant can feed up to 18 hours and consume hundreds of pounds of plant matter in a single day. However, they may congregate in larger groups in forest clearings where resources are more abundant.Įlephants need extensive land areas to survive and meet their ecological needs, which includes food, water, and space. Forest elephants' social groups differ slightly and may be comprised of only an adult female and her offspring. Female calves may stay with their maternal herd for the rest of their lives, while males leave the herd as they reach puberty. Calves are cared for by the entire herd of related females. A single calf is born to a female once every four to five years and after a gestation period of 22 months-the longest of any mammal. Led by a matriarch, elephants are organized into complex social structures of females and calves, while male elephants tend to live in isolation or in small bachelor groups. Only some male Asian elephants have tusks, while both male and female African elephants grow tusks. For example, Asian elephants' ears are smaller compared to the large fan-shaped ears of the African species. The African savanna elephant is the largest elephant species, while the Asian forest elephant and the African forest elephant are of a comparable, smaller size.Īsian elephants differ in several ways from their African relatives, with more than 10 distinct physical differences between them. Two genetically different African species exist: the savanna elephant and the forest elephant, with a number of characteristics that differentiate them both. During times of drought, elephants even use their tusks to dig holes to find water underground. These extended teeth can be used to protect the elephant's trunk, lift and move objects, gather food, and strip bark from trees. Both male and female African elephants grow tusks and each individual can either be left- or right-tusked, and the one they use more is usually smaller because of wear and tear. They use their trunks to pick up objects, trumpet warnings, greet other elephants, or suck up water for drinking or bathing, among other uses. Elephants are the largest land mammals on earth and have distinctly massive bodies, large ears, and long trunks.
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