The official title of the world’s largest land dwelling animal belongs to the elephant, more specifically, the African elephant. Elephants are some of the most deadly animals, which increases the danger of human and elephant interactions. Increased human and elephant interactions lead to increased deaths of both humans and elephants. Surprisingly, these animals are socially apt. The 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 …show more content…
Elephant populations suffered a drop in numbers that carried the species into the endangered animals list. At the beginning of the twentieth century, about ten million elephants lived in Africa. Presently, the ten million is reduced to half a million because of illegal hunting and habitat loss. Studies of the population show twenty-two thousand were killed in 2012 and twenty-five thousand in 2011. When comparing the death rate to the natural population growth, there is a possibility the largest mammal on Earth could be extinct soon (Vaughan 1). Because the elephant is the largest animal to walk on land, the greatly increasing human population affects the elephant population first. They live in some regions of the world that have the densest human population which continues to grow, which therefore continuously decreases their own population (Bryner 1). As the human population swiftly increases, the elephant population in turn, decreases. This is so because they cannot cohabitate the same living space. Elephants and humans cannot cohabitate because they would kill each other due to the inability to communicate. About population recovery, the Animal wildlife foundation states, “Populations of elephants- especially in Southern and Eastern Africa- that once showed promising signs of recovery could be at risk due to the recent surge in poaching for the illegal ivory trade”(1). Poaching presents one of the main issues that make recovery so difficult for these animals.
Not surprisingly, elephants are known for being more emotional and empathetic animals than the rest. According the three articles, “Elephants Can Lend a Helping Trunk”, “Elephants Know When They Need a Helping Trunk in a Cooperative Task”, and “Elephants Console Each Other” elephants understand when they need each other’s assistance. All two authors describe the studies of elephant behavior differently, but with a similar purpose.
Because of the poaching of game like the elephant, the number of species will start to diminish. What hunters brought to the villages of Botswana was the money and the meat from the animals to feed the many people that go hungry everyday. Hunters that would take animals such as an elephant wouldn’t take any of the meat for themselves but rather they give all of the meat to the villages in the area. However, when poaching starts to take over, there will be zero meat or money that will be put back into the community. Poachers that kill elephants are only after one thing and that is the ivory from the elephant tusks. After taking the tusks, the elephant is left to rot. Another animal that is sought after by poachers in Botswana is the rhino. The rhino is poached for their horns, which are supposedly an aphrodisiac in China so the demand is high. Because of these effects, groups like SCI are so important to different places around the world. The money brought in by the hunters is used to hire conservation officers to protect the rhinos and elephants and to buy land that will be put into game preserves so the numbers of these species will increase because there aren’t any pressures from hunting or
The Sumatran Elephant is a highly endangered animal. This animal has been forced closer and closer to human territory because of their failing ecosystem. This causes them to more likely raid crops and come in contact with humans. They then hunt
Adversaries believe that the extinction of elephants can hardly affect other species. In fact, African Elephants are essential to the survival of other animals who rely on specific conditions to live. Elephants have been proven to be crucial to the habitats of other animals. In the article “Endangered Species Can They Be Saved?”, It is reported that African elephants may not be the only ones in danger. Asian elephants’ habitats are disappearing as a result of the loss of African elephants (Allman, Schrof). The tusks of Asian elephants are normally too small to be recognized by poachers so the only reason they too are disappearing is because of the drop of their African brethren. It has been reported by activists that elephants create salt licks that are used by other animals (About the African Elephant). In the article “Endangered Species Can They Be Saved?”, it is reported that elephants open up grassland and clear the savanna for other grazers (Allman, Schrof). If elephants go extinct, these grazers will be losing their habitats and without elephants, it would take much longer to create them
Big game hunting is cause A major population damage . One of them is one of the most beloved animals in the world the Elephant. Every year, tens of thousands of elephants are being killed for trophies . Their population in Africa dropped from 62,000 all the way down to 20,000 in the last decade. WWF Global said they are due to be extinct in the next decade if nothing is done to stop the big game hunter. It’s not just Africa, where animals are being killed for trophies. ‘In Canada there is a breed of leopards called Amurs that were driven down to 10 left in the whole world ‘’ What caused this big game hunters from all over came to hunt an
Elephant has long been known as one of man’s best friends, who have peacefully coexisted along with humanity for thousands of years. However, the relationship between the two is no longer in the equilibrium state. In “An Elephant Crackup?”, Charles Siebert discusses the downfall of the elephants. He gives a depiction of the recent raging and violent acts of the elephants among themselves and toward other species, including humans, and presents an educated and almost unexpected explanation to their behaviors. He says elephants are just like us; they have feelings and now are “suffering from a form of chronic stress, a kind of species-wide trauma”(Siebert 354). The similarity that should be something fascinating is now slowly turning them into the immensely savage beasts before wiping them out of existence. Even when the appearance of the words “stress” and “trauma” looks like a serious case of “anthropocentric conjecture”, it provides a totally new vision, a fresh way of looking at the boiling issue of the disappearance and sadistic acts of elephants specifically and wild animals at large. With the help of two powerful essays: “Great to Watch” by Maggie Nelson and “The Power of Context” of Malcolm Gladwell, the issue of the unusual behaviors of the elephants is thoroughly illuminated and its solution no longer seems to be out of human’s reach.
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
He is a world-renowned elephant expert, and has largely contributed to the elephant conservation community. He is the author of “Gone Astray: The care and management of the Asian elephant in Domesticity”. In this book, Lair addresses the issues of conservation, and the future for the Asian elephant in domesticity. His research has shown that a large cause for the population decline of the elephant, is habitat
Elephants in the wild live in large family units, sometimes as many as 100 members, and have constant companionship. Their intricate social networks have been studied for decades. Studies show elephants mourn the loss of a family member for several days. Elephants have been reported to “cry” upon the death of a family member or
Over the last 100 years, African elephant populations have declined from 3-5 million to 470,000-690,000 and Asian elephant populations have declined from 100,000 to between 35,000 and 50,000. Habitat loss and conflict with people are among the biggest threats to their continued survival. Elephant habitat is being replaced by farms and villages. Not only are elephants being pushed into smaller and smaller areas, but the crops that are planted by farmers (sugar cane, cassava, rice) are very tempting for elephants. As a result, elephants frequently raid and destroy crops and villages. People are often injured and killed by elephants during conflict. Elephants are killed in retaliation for the damage that they cause.
In recent years elephant poaching has led to a significant decline in the African Elephant population. The ban on the international trade in ivory has allowed some elephant populations to recover, but it is an inadequate amount compared to the tens of thousands of elephants being slaughtered each year. What more can be done to stop elephant poaching? Poachers often take desperate measures to obtain ivory due to being economically unstable. What is ivory used for exactly? Where does it get shipped? Illegal trade on ivory has been said to fund terrorist groups. Is this true? These questions may enhance ones knowledge of the harmful effects poaching has on the elephant population and how the funding of terrorist groups affects individuals across
The impact of reproduction on younger females is an important part of elephant survival, however, it is the impact of reproduction over time that provides understanding of the future of elephant populations. In order to show the later-life effects of reproduction, Hayward et al. studied the survival of calves and annual breeding success of elephants throughout their lives and into their older age.
If Illegal poaching keeps killing Elpehants at the rate thats is going expeerts predict that within the next decade elephants will be an extinct species .
Just imagine life without any elephants, wiped out just like the dinosaurs. In the early 1980’s, there were more than a million reported elephants in Africa. Tragically, during that decade, 600,000 elephants were destroyed for ivory products. Today, conceivably no more than 400,000 elephants remain across the continent. Elephants are facing a very real threat of extinction; In fact, the African elephants are listed on the
Explanation and Analysis: The human population is slowly moving into the Elephant's habitat and environment causing more conflict between humans and animals than ever before.