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Essay on Elephants Should be Protected

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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.

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