Fewer African elephants left – Study

A new study carried out by the Great Elephant Census (GEC) to count all the African savannah elephants shows that there are fewer African elephants left. The study, which was led by elephant ecologist and founder of Elephants Without Borders (EWB), Mike Chase, reported in a journal,PeerJ,  disclosed that Africa’s savannah elephant population had been […]

A new study carried out by the Great Elephant Census (GEC) to count all the African savannah elephants shows that there are fewer African elephants left.
The study, which was led by elephant ecologist and founder of Elephants Without Borders (EWB), Mike Chase, reported in a journal,PeerJ,  disclosed that Africa’s savannah elephant population had been devastated, with just 352,271 animals in the countries surveyed, far lower than previous estimates.  The report stated that between 2007 and 2014, the number of Africa’s elephants plummeted by at least 30% or 144,000 elephants.
The elephant populations, according to the survey, have plummeted by more than 75% in the past 10 years as poachers cut down family herds.
“Prior to European colonization, scientists believe that Africa may have held as many as 20 million elephants; by 1979 only 1.3 million remained and the census reveals that things have gotten far worse,” the report stated.