Abstract
Genetic evidence supports the recognition and conservation management of African forest and savannah elephants as two distinct species.
Highlights
Considering that elephants are the largest land animal and one of the most loved by humans, it comes as something of a surprise to learn that this great banner of wildlife conservation movements the world over might be composed of three species, not two
The 'genetic distance' between forest and savannah elephants is 58% of the distance between the Asian and African elephant genera
The authors propose that the African elephant is divided into two separate species, Loxodonta africana and Loxodonta cyclotis
Summary
Considering that elephants are the largest land animal and one of the most loved by humans, it comes as something of a surprise to learn that this great banner of wildlife conservation movements the world over might be composed of three species, not two. Perhaps the most important consequence of the findings of Roca et al will be in the area of conservation. As the 'News of the Week' piece in the same issue of Science points out, instead of there being 500,000 African elephants, there will be a smaller number of each kind - savannah and forest elephants - making both 'species' more endangered than has hitherto been presumed
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