New algorithm can count elephant populations via satellite images
For decades, the best way for conservationists to monitor threatened elephant populations has been via an aircraft survey. The problem is that elephant populations live in habitats that span international borders, which can make it difficult to obtain permission for aircraft surveys. Not to mention Read More...
Positive destruction: How elephants are rewilding this national park
Sometimes destruction can be a good thing. To demonstrate our point, let’s take a look inside the Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) where a herd of around 580 African elephants have entered from neighboring land, tearing through trees and knocking down bushes Read More...
‘World’s loneliest elephant’ set to leave zoo for a better home
In 2012, an elephant by the name of Kaavan lost his partner at the Marghazar zoo in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad. Ever since then, Kaavan has been without any elephant friends, languishing within a zoo that has been ordered to be closed because of abysmal conditions. Kaavan’s sad story Read More...
African elephant trails can help shape better conservation plans
When African elephants travel from one destination to another, they typically create highly complex routes on their way, shaping the landscape and thus the fabric and way of life of many local communities. Understanding how these massive creatures affect the dynamics of local life may lead the way Read More...
A wildlife reserve in Kenya is witnessing a baby elephant boom
Despite the tumultuous state of the world in the past seven months, it has been a good year so far for Kenya’s elephant population, which has been experiencing a celebratory baby boom in one of the country’s wildlife reserves. Since the start of the pandemic earlier this year, Amboseli Read More...
Cambodia’s most popular tourist attraction to ban elephant rides
Despite elephant populations in Asia suffering a 50 percent decline over the past three generations, in some regions, the animals are still taken away from their natural habitats to be exploited for tourist rides. But now, one of Cambodia’s most famous tourist attractions is taking a major stand Read More...
Trade of wild African elephants will be banned under new international agreement
It will no longer be legal for wild baby elephants to be snatched from their families and exported to zoos around the world. The landmark conservation decision is the result of a new international agreement ratified by members of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species Read More...
Elephant and rhino populations rebound in Tanzania after crackdown on poaching
Iconic African animals including elephants and rhinos have long been targeted by organized criminal networks that are feeding an insatiable demand for ivory and rhino horn in Asian countries. But strategic anti-poaching government action may just be key to tackling the problem. In Tanzania, for Read More...
No elephants poached last year in one Africa’s largest wildlife preserves
Aggressive poaching over the years cut the number of elephants living in one of Africa’s largest wildlife preserves from about 12,000 to a little over 3,600 in 2016. But thanks to new conservation strategies, not a single elephant was found killed by poachers this past year in the reserve, which Read More...