Ivory Poaching Research Articles

Population survey of elephants in Okwangwo Division, Cross River National Park, Nigeria

A elephant census based on dung counts along five trails, with a total length of 139 kms, was undertaken March 1997-May 1998 in Cross River NP, Nigeria. 'There appears to be a seasonal local migration of this population between Cross River NP and the neighbouring Takamanda FR in Cameroon: the elephants spend most of the rainy season in Cameroon and the dry season in Cross river NP.' Within the park elephants seem to occupy a home range of about 239 sq km, from Okwangwo in the centre of the park through Bamba on the eastern boundary to Bashu on the south, and dung count analysis suggests 74 animals in this area. This study indicates 50 to 130 elephant are in the area, and interviews with hunters suggest there are about 10 groups of around 15 animals per group. This latter figure suggests 150 animals in total which compares favourably with the study maximum estimate of 130. Authors note poaching for ivory and meat was excessive before the park was gazetted in 1991, and antipoaching activities must be maintained if any population is to survive.

Demographic status of elephants in the Samburu and Buffalo Springs National Reserves, Kenya

AbstractIndividual based demographic records of the elephants utilizing Samburu and Buffalo Springs National Reserves were collected from 1998 through 2003 and indicate that this elephant population was increasing at an average rate of 4.6% per year. Although the majority of carcasses were not found, known sources of mortality include disease, injury, and predation by lions and humans. Poaching did occur during the study period, however the population is increasing and thus our findings indicate ivory poaching has limited impact on the demographic status of these elephants. This population is part of the Samburu/Laikipia MIKE Site and thus its status is relevant to CITES ligislation.

Population genetic structure of the African elephant in Uganda based on variation at mitochondrial and nuclear loci: evidence for male‐biased gene flow

A drastic decline has occurred in the size of the Uganda elephant population in the last 40 years, exacerbated by two main factors; an increase in the size of the human population and poaching for ivory. One of the attendant consequences of such a decline is a reduction in the amount of genetic diversity in the surviving populations due to increased effects of random genetic drift. Information about the amount of genetic variation within and between the remaining populations is vital for their future conservation and management. The genetic structure of the African elephant in Uganda was examined using nucleotide variation of mitochondrial control region sequences and four nuclear microsatellite loci in 72 individuals from three localities. Eleven mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplotypes were observed, nine of which were geographically localized. We found significant genetic differentiation between the three populations at the mitochondrial locus while three out of the four microsatellite loci differentiated KV and QE, one locus differentiated KV and MF and no loci differentiated MF and QE. Expected heterozygosity at the four loci varied between 0.51 and 0.84 while nucleotide diversity at the mitochondrial locus was 1.4%. Incongruent patterns of genetic variation within and between populations were revealed by the two genetic systems, and we have explained these in terms of the differences in the effective population sizes of the two genomes and male-biased gene flow between populations.

Trade in Asian elephant ivory in Sri Lanka

Elephants Elephas maximus have declined in range and number in the wild in Sri Lanka, from c. 12,000 at the turn of the nineteenth century to c. 4000 today. While in the distant past the decline in elephant numbers was due largely to indiscriminate killing by sportsmen and trophy hunters, today elephants are being killed primarily because they interfere with agriculture. Human-elephant conflicts have increased substantially in the recent past and ivory poaching has become a byproduct of such conflicts. Elephant tusks have been used traditionally in the ivory-carving industry in Sri Lanka since the time of the ancient kings. Until the turn of the century, very little ivory was imported from Africa because there was a plentiful supply of tuskers locally available. Sri Lankan ivory carvers started to use African ivory in 1910. Today ivory and fake-ivory products are sold openly to tourists in some 86 shops in the island. Before the listing of the African elephant in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), the value of raw ivory in Sri Lanka used to be US72 per kg, reflecting a drastic drop in the demand for ivory from tourists. Many ivory carvers have switched to other jobs or are using substitutes (such as bone and horn) to produce fake-ivory carvings. Only about 7.5 per cent of bulls in Sri Lanka are tuskers and they are under poaching pressure outside protected areas. Given the rarity of tuskers in Sri Lanka, promotion of trade in ivory products, even locally, may pose a serious threat to their long-term survival in the wild.

Trade in Asian elephant ivory in Sri Lanka

AbstractElephants Elephas maximus have declined in range and number in the wild in Sri Lanka, from c. 12,000 at the turn of the nineteenth century to c. 4000 today. While in the distant past the decline in elephant numbers was due largely to indiscriminate killing by sportsmen and trophy hunters, today elephants are being killed primarily because they interfere with agriculture. Human-elephant conflicts have increased substantially in the recent past and ivory poaching has become a byproduct of such conflicts. Elephant tusks have been used traditionally in the ivory-carving industry in Sri Lanka since the time of the ancient kings. Until the turn of the century, very little ivory was imported from Africa because there was a plentiful supply of tuskers locally available. Sri Lankan ivory carvers started to use African ivory in 1910. Today ivory and fake-ivory products are sold openly to tourists in some 86 shops in the island. Before the listing of the African elephant in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), the value of raw ivory in Sri Lanka used to be $US228–285 per kg. After the listing, the price fell to $US72 per kg, reflecting a drastic drop in the demand for ivory from tourists. Many ivory carvers have switched to other jobs or are using substitutes (such as bone and horn) to produce fake-ivory carvings. Only about 7.5 per cent of bulls in Sri Lanka are tuskers and they are under poaching pressure outside protected areas. Given the rarity of tuskers in Sri Lanka, promotion of trade in ivory products, even locally, may pose a serious threat to their long-term survival in the wild.

We Wander Like Birds: Migration, Indigeneity, and the Fabrication of Frontiers in the Sangha River Basin of Equatorial Africa

The flora and fauna of this region represent a richness of great natural, scientific, economic, esthetic and cultural value that is currently severely threatened by logging exploitation, encroaching human population and subsequent heavy illegal poaching for meat and ivory.... This reserve/park project includes a wildlife protection program, tourist development. . . and efforts to ensure the cultural integrity of the BaAka Pygmies of the region.

Impact of poaching on an Asian elephant population in Periyar, southern India: a model of demography and tusk harvest

AbstractIvory poaching has been a serious problem in Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) populations. Reliable records of elephants killed and ivory harvested are generally unavailable. We have used a simulation modelling approach to estimate the numbers of male elephants killed and the quantities of ivory harvested over a 20 year period (1974–94) in the Periyar Reserve of southern India. The age‐structured Leslie matrix projection model was modified for this purpose by considering three segments (female, tusked male and tuskless male), relating fecundity to adult sex ratio and iteratively simulating tusked male mortality rates so as to match the observed elephant population structure at Periyar. Four different scenarios of poaching all gave very similar results. We estimate conservatively that 336–388 tuskers have been poached and 3256–3334 kg of ivory harvested by poachers over the 20 year period. The maximum harvest came from the 10–20 year age class. Trends in various demographic parameters such as population numbers, tusked male to tuskless male ratios and female fecundity are described. The implications of ivory poaching and the extremely skewed sex ratios for the conservation and management of the elephant population at Periyar are discussed.

The cost of conserving elephants

African elephants attract a variety of economic values, and to varying degrees in different range states, live both within and outside protected areas. In either situation, elephants may be in conflict with man. As a result range states have to expend funds to protect elephants. This questionnaire based survey found as a general rule in 1981 it was necessary to spend around US$215 per sq km of protected area to prevent the decline of elephants due severe commercial poaching for ivory. In 1989, taking inflation into account, US$340 would be required to maintain the same standard. Given that ensuring the success of law enforcement efforts is probably the most important management objective for future conservation greater emphasis needs to be placed upon this topic.

Elephants and ivory poaching in the forests of equatorial Africa

Reconnaissance surveys were made of the forests of four central African countries to establish, for the first time, the status of forest-dwelling elephants. The results, when combined with information from previous surveys in other countries, provide a picture of the elephant situation in the forest zone, and especially the impact of poaching. About one-third of the forest elephant population of central Africa is to be found in Zaire, and about one-third in Gabon. The rest are in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, and Congo. It is poaching for ivory, rather than the growth of human populations, which threatens the elephants of the equatorial forests.

Population extinction by mutational load and demographic stochasticity: W. Gabriel, R. Burger & M. Lynch, in: Species conservation: a population-biological approach, ed A. Seitz & V. Loeschcke, (Birkhauser), 1991, pp 49–59

Network resilience to perturbation is fundamental to functionality in systems ranging from synthetic communication networks to evolved social organization [1]. While theoretical work offers insight into causes of network robustness, examination of natural networks can identify evolved mechanisms of resilience and how they are related to the selective pressures driving structure. Female African elephants (Loxodonta africana) exhibit complex social networks with node heterogeneity in which older individuals serve as connectivity hubs [2, 3]. Recent ivory poaching targeting older elephants in a well-studied population has mirrored the targeted removal of highly connected nodes in the theoretical literature that leads to structural collapse [4, 5]. Here we tested the response of this natural network to selective knockouts. We find that the hierarchical network topology characteristic of elephant societies was highly conserved across the 16-year study despite ∼70% turnover in individual composition of the population. At a population level, the oldest available individuals persisted to fill socially central positions in the network. For analyses using known mother-daughter pairs, social positions of daughters during the disrupted period were predicted by those of their mothers in years prior, were unrelated to individual histories of family mortality, and were actively built. As such, daughters replicated the social network roles of their mothers, driving the observed network resilience. Our study provides a rare bridge between network theory and an evolved system, demonstrating social redundancy to be the mechanism by which resilience to perturbation occurred in this socially advanced species.

Revival for Ivory Poaching?

Revival for Ivory Poaching?

Revival for Ivory Poaching?

Revival for Ivory Poaching?

Revival for Ivory Poaching?

Revival for Ivory Poaching?

Forest elephant surveys in Central Africa

Summarizes results from a ground reconnaissance survey intended to extrapolate forest elephant numbers in suitable Central African forest habitats. It is suggested that about 225,000 forest elephant may be present in Central African forests: one third in Gabon which are not seriously threatened from ivory poaching, one third in Cameroon, Congo and Central African Republic which are declining fairly rapidly.and the remainder in Zaire which are swiftly disappearing.

Southern Sudan elephant still suffer

Notes the ongoing poaching for ivory in southern Sudan and notes it has increased during the past two years. Suggests that the present range is about 23% of Watson's 1976 assessment, and that unless action is soon taken elephant populations will not last until turn of the century.

Ivory Poaching and Cannibals in Africa

Ivory Poaching and Cannibals in Africa