She starts shaking her head and throwing dust over her shoulder, signs of great agitation. As the matriarch approaches the next tree buffet she suddenly halts.
A small elephant calf playfully chases his older sister through the brush while their mother, the matriarch (leader) of the herd, strips bark from a large acacia tree with her tusks and grabs leaves with her trunk. King.Īn elephant herd leisurely grazes through a savanna in central Kenya.
Our work assessing ivory markets in West Africa and identifying illegal ivory trade routes from Central to West Africa and into Asia has played an important role in putting together effective conservation strategies.A herd of elephants in Samburu National Reserve, Kenya. Since 1989, TRAFFIC has managed the Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS) database, which is a comprehensive information system to track illegal trade in ivory and other elephant products. Cases will also be monitored for corruption, and action taken against anyone attempting to impede justice. The plan calls for increased antipoaching efforts, joint patrols in some transboundary areas, better customs controls at international transit points, more intense investigations, and more thorough prosecutions. WWF and TRAFFIC, the world’s largest wildlife trade monitoring network, support a Central African Forest Commission commitment to put a groundbreaking regional network called PAPECALF into place that will strengthen law enforcement and better combat poaching of species at risk from illegal wildlife trade. To supplement their diet with minerals, they gather at mineral-rich waterholes and mineral licks found throughout the forest. They are therefore referred to as the 'mega-gardener of the forest'. Since the diet of forest elephants is dominated by fruit, they play a crucial role in dispersing many tree species, particularly the seeds of large trees which tend to have high carbon content. Their last strongholds are located in Gabon and the Republic of Congo, with smaller populations remaining in other African countries (Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea) and Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia, and Ghana in west Africa.Īfrican forest elephants live in family groups of up to 20 individuals and forage on leaves, grasses, seeds, fruit, and tree bark. Forest elephants also have a much slower reproductive rate than savanna elephants, so they cannot bounce back from population declines as quickly at the same rate. There are also differences in the size and shape of the skull and skeleton. Their ears are more oval-shaped and their tusks are straighter and point downward (the tusks of savanna elephants curve outwards). Their population is usually estimated through "dung counts"-an analysis on the ground of the density and distribution of the feces.Īfrican forest elephants are smaller than African savanna elephants, the other African elephant species. Their preference for dense forest habitat prohibits traditional counting methods such as visual identification. They inhabit the dense rainforests of west and central Africa. African forest elephants are the elusive cousin of the African savanna elephant.
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