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Conservationists are racing to count all of Africa's elephants in the continent's remotest corners as their numbers dwindle.
The Great Elephant Census, which will take two years and cost $7 million, will locate elephants using aerial surveys and help conservationists decide where to concentrate future efforts.
"You can’t fight a war to save something if you don’t know how many you are trying to save," explained Iain Douglas Hamilton, a zoologist and elephant expert.
The elephant population in Africa has been decimated in the past few decades due to human activities, primarily habitat destruction and poaching for the ivory trade.
In 1977, there were approximately 1.3 million elephants in Africa. In the following decade, poachers killed over half the existing population, leaving only 600,000 by 1989.
That same year, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) banned the international trade of ivory. The U.S. also outlawed commercial ivory imports last year.
But poaching remains a huge issue, and researchers say the remaining elephants cannot reproduce fast enough to replace the ones that are killed by natural and human activities.
Warm up questions
- What are some reasons species become extinct?
- What are ways that you can help save animals that are endangered?
- The following list of animals is categorized by the World Wildlife Fund as critically endangered (a high risk of extinction in the wild): Amur Leopard, Black Rhino, Cross River Gorilla, Hawksbill Turtle, Javan Rhino, Leatherback Turtle, Mountain Gorilla, South China Tiger, Sumatran Elephant, Sumatran Orangutan, Sumatran Rhino, Sumatran Tiger, Western Lowland Gorilla, and Yangtze Finless Porpoise. Are you surprised at the list for either having or not having certain animals on the list? What patterns do you see on the list? Hint: think about geography.
Critical thinking questions
- Why do scientists need to count all the elephants in Africa in order to save them? Explain why this part of the process is so important.
- What challenges might the conservationists face counting elephants?
- Why might a country not want to have its elephant population counted?
- Do you think the Great Elephant Census will be successful? Why or why not?
