Elephants

Calves benefit from having older sisters more than older brothers.

A map developed by the Autonomous University of Barcelona’s EJAtlas unveils the high-level of social injustice that communities are facing in many of India’s protected areas.

A law designed to protect elephants, passed with overwhelming popular support and cross-party Parliamentary backing in 2018, could be struck off the statute books.

Trophy hunting elephants has negative consequences for conservation and local communities.

Botswana has now committed to a policy built on myths, while the rest of the world takes stock of the implications ecological crisis.

Scores of endangered Asian elephants are being electrocuted and killed by low hanging power lines every year.

Botswana, home to Africa’s largest elephant population, is proposing using meat from the endangered animal for canned pet food, charity claims.

We may know that palm oil is wiping out rainforests worldwide, writes Philip Lymbery. But few realise that our factory farmed meat and dairy are contributing to the problem. As revealed in Philip's new book, 'Dead Zone: Where the Wild Things Were', palm kernels, left after pressing the fruit for oil, is a protein-rich livestock feed of growing importance. And nowhere is the impact greater than Sumatra, home (for now) to its own unique species of elephant.

China's domestic ivory trade ban, which comes into force this year, is a major cause for optimism, writes Aron White. There are still loopholes, such as a partial exemption for 'cultural relics', that need clarifying and closing. Yet the new law sends a strong and timely signal that the global ivory market is progressively shutting up shop.

With 27,000 African savannah elephants a year illegally killed for their ivory, the species is in peril, write Ross Harvey & Alexander Rhodes. Now international action at CITES and the closure of domestic ivory markets are attacking the ivory trade at both ends. But we must also give our full support to 'elephant neighbor' communities.

Desperate not to offend the host country, the EU delegates at the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) ignored a million-strong petition, a resolution from the European Parliament and the views of a large majority of African Range states and failed to give elephants greater protection

BRUSSELS - The French Environment Minister Ségolène Royal has signed a decree banning the trade in ivory and rhino horn in France and all overseas French territories.This follows an earlier French governmental move to suspend re-exports of elephant ivory

After six months of denial Tanzania has finally admitted that its elephants have suffered a catastrophic 60% decline in five years. But they still refuse to accept it's caused by poaching for ivory, rampant corruption and 'above the law' smuggling networks.

Claims that the ivory trade is financing terrorism in Africa are all based on a single unreliable source, writes Diogo Veríssimo, yet the real link between terror groups and the illegal charcoal trade barely gets a mention. Is the 'reality gap' caused by the 'Like, share, donate' cycle that drives social media and fund-raising?

A new report reveals that Chinese-led criminal gangs are conspiring with corrupt Tanzanian officials and senior politicians to traffic huge amounts of ivory. The corruption even extends into the Chinese navy, diplomatic missions and Presidential entourage - all involved in the lucrative but illegal trade.

Mali's elephants have lived for millennia in the inhospitable Sahara, writes Susan Canney. But with their survival at risk from a host of modern, 21st century threats, local people are coming together to protect them - and finding that they too are benefiting.

Protestors will gather on Saturday at the Chinese Embassy in London to call for an end to the global ivory trade, writes Dominic Dyer. But it's not just China - the UK must also pay its part to save Africa's elephants.

In a landmark decision, the Hong Kong Endangered Species Advisory Committee has voted to destroy almost the entire ivory stockpile, 28 of its estimated 33 tons.

The Government of China today destroyed over 6 tons of ivory and other wildlife products confiscated from the illegal trade. But is it a PR move or a sign of a serious clamp down?

Carved ivory elephants may already outnumber living elephants, which are being slaughtered at the unsustainable rate of 35,000 per year. Richard Schiffman reports from the Central African Republic.

The Sumatran elephant, one of the smallest of the Asian elephants, is the most endangered elephant in the world. Currently there are between 2,400 and 2,800 left, making the species 'critically endangered', according to the charity Elephant Family.

Palm oil is a key ingredient in everything from cereal, biscuits and margarine to shampoo, lipstick and toothpaste. Unless we curb our desire for it critical forests and wildlife habitat will be gone forever, says Dan Bucknell

The CITES COP16 (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna) has just ended in Bangkok, to very mixed reviews. Lorna Howarth reports on the good news, and the bad.