African Elephant Population In Sharp Decline

“These dramatic declines in elephant populations are almost certainly due to poaching for ivory,” wrote the researchers, who are drawn from conservation groups, government agencies and universities in the United States, Europe and Africa. The findings were presented this week at the World Conservation Congress in Honolulu, and published August 31 in the journal PeerJ.

The team focused on the largest and densest elephant populations, and counted both living elephants and carcasses from planes and helicopters.  Together, they spent over 1,500 hours in 2014 and 2015 observing the animals over about a quarter of their range.