Endangered African Elephants

About African Elephants

African elephants are found throughout in the jungles of Africa. They are classified into two subgroups, Savanna elephant or bush elephant and Forest elephant. Savanna elephants live in open grasslands, marshes, and lake-shores in the savanna region towards south of Sahara desert. Forest elephants are found in deep rainforests of central and western Africa.

Savanna elephants are larger than Forest elephants. Moreover, African elephants are bigger than Asian elephants. They have distinguishing features such as large ears, concave back, and less hairy body, which separates them from others. Only male Asian elephants have tusks whereas both male and female African elephants have tusks.

The tusks of African elephants weigh between 22 to 45 kilograms, and can grow up to 2.5 meters. They have a brownish-gray skin. They are herbivorous creatures, and mainly feed on grass, fruits, bark, and roots. An adult African elephant can eat up to 140 kilograms of food in a single day. As they have to cover large areas in search of food, they sleep for a very short time.

After achieving maturity, the male African elephants roam around the wilderness by themselves. Female African elephants move around in herds. Each herd consists of about ten members along with their young ones, and is supervised by the oldest and largest female elephant.

The average age of an African elephant is 60 years in the wild. They generally mate during the rainy season. Moans, rumbles, growls, and trumpets are the manner in which they communicate with others.

Causes of endangerment of African elephants

According to International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Endangered Species Act (ESA), African elephants are categorized as endangered animals. Their number has reduced from 1.3 million in 1970s to about 690,000 in 2007.

Loss of habitat and poaching are the main reasons for making them endangered animals. There is a very high demand for ivory-tusks in Japan. The endangered African elephants are widely poached for their ivory-tusks, which has the premium price in the international market.

The rapid growth of human population has led to the expansion of living areas. Deforestation and encroachment of forest lands have caused a habitat loss to the endangered African elephants. Drought is yet another reason for their endangerment, which reduces their food-intake and nourishment.

Conservation of endangered African elephants

Conservation of endangered African elephants has gained importance among the governments. This endangered animal has been provided special protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by the government of the United States. Poaching has been declared illegal, but it remains a thriving business due to involvement of large sums of money.

Moreover, many wildlife organizations are actively involved in their conservation. World Wildlife Federation (WWF) has initiated special animal adoption programs for the benefit of the poor endangered animals.

Therefore, timely efforts are being applied to protect the endangered African elephants. Your conscious and determined effort can make a huge difference to the endangered animals.