Ecological Roles Of African Forest Elephants

Elephants effect the quality of habitats of other species by changing food availability, predation risk, habitat selection and competition (Valiex et al., 2011). The decrease in woody vegetation and trees that the elephants cause leads to modified patches of habitat that can either be higher or lower in richness than unmodified areas. This depends on the species present and the number of elephants involved (Valiex et al., 2011). However, often there is a negative impact on woody vegetation as many species experience local extirpation. This impact is seen more in the dry season than wet, elephants preferentially feed on grasses in the wet season because it is nutrient rich, but when grass is not available in the dry season, they browse woody vegetation (Chamaille-Jammes et al., 2007). Herds that graze grasses and defoliate trees often kill the individual plant, which leads to direct effects that go beyond average consumption that the plant cannot recover

The official title of the world’s largest land dwelling animal belongs to the elephant, more specifically, the African elephant. Elephants also are some of the most deadly animals, which therefore increase the danger of human and elephant interactions. The more human interactions occur, the more deaths result, whether it is the elephant or the human who dies. These animals, surprisingly, are socially apt; their trunk is used for more than just eating and drinking- it is used for socializing. They are complex animals who live in large familial herds-females stay with their family throughout their entire lives while males only stay for approximately fifteen years (Elephant Protection, 1). Elephants possess a great memory and only forget what they learn occasionally and rarely, giving way to the “an elephant never forgets” saying (Maloiy, 178c). Despite how many people use the beloved saying, elephants may not be around much longer due to the shortened life span and increased mortality rates. Due to their incisor teeth, tusks, being extremely expensive and profitable, they are being murdered for the wealth they carry. This, coupled with the life span shortening because of malicious treatments and brutal practices reduces the life span of the African elephant from 56 to 16 years and the Asian elephant from 42 to 19 years (Elephant Protection, 1). According to what the statistics show, elephants may be following their ancestors to their death. Of the group of mammals called

Trump’s lift on the ban of endangered elephant trophy imports into the U.S. is just another prime example of how politics and money take precedence over precious life and the environment. Fortunately, the new policy that Trump is considering is on-hold. According to Tanya Sernerib, Center for Biological Diversity Attorney, “we are in the midst of a poaching crisis. Elephant populations across Africa are declining”, she said in an interview with WCCO CBS Minnesota in November 2017. It was reported in that same broadcast that the elephant population on the African continent declined by 30% between 2007 and 2014 based on a report released by the Great Elephant Census Organization in 2016. If the ban is not lifted, those interested in sports

The book includes a clear outline of the history of conservation in Africa, coupled with stories of Africans involved in conservation management. The authors explain the issues around African conservation as well as including their own input and potential solutions. One of the main points presented is that the myth that Africans and wildlife being incompatible must be broken. It is evident that Africans are just as passionate about their wildlife like the rest of the world and the authors try to bring this across to the rest of the world. However, conservationists must make sure that rural people are acknowledged and that they engage in conservation efforts to make sure projects are successful. Due to the age of the book, several issues are more prominent than others, such as habitat loss and overpopulation, and that the solutions to these issues will have changed with the development of technology. Public awareness and the education of issues are now more achievable and effective due to the advancement in communication in the form of social media and the fact many Africans own a mobile phones. The involvement of local communities will always be important in conservation and most of the points brought across in the book about the past will remain relevant. An update or a companion book including discussions of new issues threats

The Mau Forest is the location of the Wildebeest migration. The wildebeest migration is the mass movement wildebeests from the Serengeti t the Masai Mara national reserve (Wildebeest). This migration happens to be a very famous tourist attraction, and something most people never get to see. The danger here resides in the fact that the deforestation is causing droughts and changing the environment, and therefore affected the wildebeest migration and population (Wildebeest). This issue relates back to the issue of scarcity of water, which again can be traced back to deforestation. Habitats are being destroyed because of the deforestation in Kenya, which leads to extinction among animal and plant species. “Many of Kenya’s major predators and herbivores have become endangered over the past few

The above-mentioned programs are only in place in a few African countries. In many others, the ban is an often side stepped nuisance in the illegal trade of ivory. Over the past several years, the illegal ivory of over one thousand African and thirty nine Asian elephants has been recovered en route to Japan alone. The ivory of over three thousand elephants has been recovered worldwide (Kioko 1). In 1997, in an attempt to stop the illegal trade, MIKE (Monitoring of Illegal Killing of Elephants) and ETIS (Elephant Trade Information System) have been organized. There efforts, although well planned and well funded are still ineffective (Kioko 2). With continued funding and support, the hope is that these organizations well be able to greatly reduce the

Social cognition refers to the ability to process, store and apply information to social situations. Elephants have high levels of abilities in social cognition which means researchers assume they are capable of social learning. Social learning is a theory that says animals learn by observing each other. However, the evidence and research to support this claim are limited. This study focuses on the evaluation of juvenile African elephant’s social learning skills and how it helps them replicate a problem-solving technique done by a trained elephant or in other words, a conspecific model. The subjects for this study will be seven juvenile African elephants. The experiment for this study involves training a juvenile African elephant to solve a

TheNatureConservency.org is a website that helps many animals around the world, but our focus is on the African elephants!

Elephants are a kind hearted large mammal who could potentially be forgotten about over time. This topic relates to what we have discussed in class because this article demonstrates the catastrophic decline of Elephants in Africa due to poaching (D-Arian). The article also exemplified the harsh dealings in Africa regarding the Ivory trade throughout Africa and China (Asiah). The issue itself is very disturbing some individuals had no sympathy about the life of an elephant however, they are looked at as a resource (Tyaira). Overall this article and what it stands for opened my eyes to how violent and lucrative the ivory trade is in Africa and China (Cherisse). But we are very thankful that there are recent laws past that to protects the elephants

The Tropical Savanna is a wet and dry place which regulates all areas cover by the savanna’s growth. The Savanna’s temperature starts at 64° F and the rainfall is about 30 and 50 inches. Five months out of a year during the dry season less than 4 inches of rain is accumulated by the savanna. The dry seasons are related to low sun cycles. African elephants also known as the savanna elephants, they are the largest mammals in the world. They weigh up to 10,000 pounds and grow up to 12 feet tall.

Through the synthesis and analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data, it can be concluded that Chemical Alteration of the tusks of living, wild elephants has little potential to protect large populations from poaching. There may be potential in the future if research reveals a major breakthrough; however, all of the current Tusk Alteration Methods would be ineffective in discouraging and eliminating poaching of elephant populations in Africa due to the sheer numbers and spread of wild elephant populations, the high cost of research and execution, the adaptive nature of the illegal ivory market, the political and economic instability of the nations involved, and the steep demand for ivory in Asian countries. However, there are multiple

Dry tropical forests and savanna are most exploited and endangered ecosystem of the world (Murphy and Lugo 1986). In recent years increasing proportion of tropical dry forest have been modified into open secondary forest or savanna or completely destroyed through such activities as mining, agriculture, herbivory, and fire (Champion and Seth 1968; Singh et al.1991). The clearance of the vegetation generally increases the chances of soil erosion and invasions (e.g., wood plant encroachment) which potentially leading to habitat degradation (Kelly and Walker 1976; Van Aukenand Bush 1989; Skarpe 1990; Ward 2005; Balfour and Midgley 2008). Such enduring anthropogenic pressure combined with the expected global climate change is a matter of concern.

The East Africa Grass-Root Elephant Education Campaign Walk dubbed “ivory belongs to elephants,” brought together various stakeholders who participated in the walk is to raise awareness on the value of elephants and rhinos, mitigate human and elephant conflicts and promote anti poaching activities.

The survival of these species nowadays is an increasing problem. In 1979, there was an estimated number of 1.3 million elephants in Africa and ten years later there was only 600,000. In Kenya alone, the population decreased from 130,000 in 1973 to less than 20,000 in 1989. The loss was at 85% by then. At the beginning of the 20th century there were only hundreds to thousands of elephants in Asia altogether. But due to ancient asian traditions there are about 16,000 elephants now held in captivity in 11 different asian countries. “The two species need extensive land to survive.” (Elephant) They roam in herds and consume large amounts of plants every day. Both species require extensive amounts of water, space, and food. Because of this elephants and humans often run into conflict because both have such large

African elephants, the largest animal walking on Earth, are endangered. Elephants are important because they help keep some living things alive and keep habitats suitable for other animals. They are a very important part of society.