How many elephants are left in the world

They rarely overlap with the range of the savanna elephant, which prefers open country and is found in a variety of habitats in Sub-Saharan Africa including grasslands and deserts. The forest elephant, which has a more restricted natural distribution, is thought to occupy only a quarter of its historic range today, with the largest remaining populations found in Gabon and the Republic of the Congo. The results quantify the dramatic extent of the decline of these ecologically important animals.

The health of our planet depends on the health of elephants and the ecosystems they inhabit, which is why Global Wildlife Conservation supports the Elephant Crisis Fund to get funding to groups across Africa working to save, recover, and manage elephant populations, " said Dr Barney Long, Global Wildlife Conservation's Senior Director of Species Conservation.

This latest assessment shows us that even the most charismatic species need our unwavering protection," said Sean T. As we saw on news headlines across the globe last year, the Australian bushfire season caused extreme damage, and ever since scientists have been hard at work evaluating the long-term impact the fires had on wildlife. Unfortunately, with restricted distribution, and increasing risk from wildfires and droughts, this Acacia, which grows in the Australian state New South Wales, is now at high risk of extinction.

The outcome are robust assessments that provide users with the options to focus conservation efforts appropriately for the Critically Endangered forest elephant and the Endangered savanna elephant. Thomas E. Lacher, Jr. IUCN—Toyota Partnership: The five-year partnership between IUCN and Toyota Motor Corporation announced in May has been significantly increasing knowledge on the extinction risk of more than 28, species, including many that are key food sources for a significant portion of the global population.

This partnership is driven by the Toyota Environmental Challenge , which aims to reduce the negative impacts associated with automobiles to zero, whilst simultaneously making positive impacts on society. Relative percentages for threatened species cannot be provided for many taxonomic groups on The IUCN Red List because they have not been comprehensively assessed.

Image source, Frank AF Petersens. There are now just over , elephants across the African continent. Savanna elephants are also endangered. Elephants counted from space for conservation Ivory from shipwreck reveals elephants' decline Extinction crisis: Leaders say it is time to act.

Image source, Lydia Tiller. Elephants "do not know international borders", so protecting them will require international cooperation. This is the first time the IUCN has assessed forest elephants as a distinct species. 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. Add in growing human-wildlife conflict and an upsurge in ivory poaching in recent years and it's easy to see why elephants are under threat. Elephant populations While some populations of African elephant are secure and expanding, primarily in southern Africa, numbers are continuing to fall in other areas, particularly in central Africa and parts of East Africa.

With an estimated , elephants left on the continent, the species is regarded as vulnerable, although certain populations are being poached towards extinction. With only 40,, left in the wild, the species is classified as endangered. And it is critical to conserve both African and Asian elephants since they play such a vital role in their ecosystems as well as contributing towards tourism and community incomes in many areas.

What is WWF doing? The threats facing elephants in Asia and Africa are varied and complex from poaching to habitat loss to human-wildlife conflict. WWF works to conserve elephants on both continents through specific programmes that aim to improve elephant protection and management, build capacity within range states, mitigate human-elephant conflict, and reduce poaching and the illegal ivory trade.