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Loxodonta africana
– Vulnerable
Taxonomy
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Kingdom:
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ANIMALIA
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Phylum:
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CHORDATA
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Class:
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MAMMALIA
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Order:
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PROBOSCIDEA
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Family:
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ELEPHANTIDAE
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Scientific Name:
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Loxodonta africana
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Species Authority:
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(Blumenbach, 1797)
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Common Name/s:
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| English | — | AFRICAN ELEPHANT |
| French | — | ÉLÉPHANT AFRICAIN, ÉLÉPHANT D'AFRIQUE |
| Spanish | — | ELEFANTE AFRICANO |
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Assessment Information
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Red List Category & Criteria:
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VU A2a ver 3.1 (2001)
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Year Assessed:
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2004
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Assessor/s:
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African Elephant Specialist Group
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Evaluator/s:
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Balfour, D., Blanc, J. & Dublin, H.T. (African Elephant Red List Authority)
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Justification:
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Taxonomic Considerations
Preliminary genetic evidence suggests that there may be at least two species of African elephants, namely the savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana) and the forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis). However, the African Elephant Specialist Group believes that premature allocation into more than one species may leave hybrids in an uncertain conservation status (AfESG 2003). For this reason, it was decided to conduct the Red List assessment for the single species as currently described, encompassing both forest and savanna populations.
Background Considerations and Choice of Criteria
The species is the largest terrestrial animal and has been the subject of considerable research, but continent-wide distribution and density estimates are difficult to obtain for any particular time period. To a large extent this is due to the enormous range covered by the species (and thus the cost of estimating its numbers) as well as to the wide variety of habitats it occupies (often woodland and forest where visibility is poor from the ground as well as from the air; see Major Habitats list below). These difficulties, coupled with the differential influence that various historical factors have played in different parts of the continent, result in a continental picture of the status of the African elephant that varies considerably – both qualitatively and quantitatively – across its range.
Although our knowledge of the status of African elephants across their range has been progressively improving since the mid-1990s, when considerable resources began to go into compiling and producing regular updates of the continental status of elephants with a standardized measure of certainty (Said et al. 1995, Barnes et al. 1999, Blanc et al. 2003), large gaps still remain.
In investigating the Red List Criteria (Version 3.1) against these realities, it became clear to the assessors that the variability in population trends and levels of uncertainty would preclude a full quantitative Red Listing assessment, such as would be conducted under criterion E. It was therefore agreed that a compromise approximation would have to be made. In order to facilitate the process, extensive use was made of the Guidelines for Application of IUCN Red List Criteria at Regional Level (IUCN 2003).The primary criterion used for the categorization was criterion A. Criteria B, C and D are not applicable as the species currently occupies more that 20,000 km² and there are more than 10,000 mature individuals. No quantitative analysis was conducted and therefore criterion E does not apply.
Subcriterion A2a was chosen because some of the major causes for decline, such as habitat loss due to human population expansion, have not ceased and may not be reversible. While the data used in the assessment are based on direct observation, the population size reduction over three generations is inferred (see below).
A generation time of 25 years, calculated as the average age of reproductive females, was established using data from many culling exercises in Kruger National Park, South Africa (Ian Whyte, unpublished data).
There are no credible estimates for a continental population prior to the late 1970s (i.e., about one generation ago). In addition, elephant population trends in the course of the 20th century are believed to have differed considerably across the different African sub-regions (Figure 1; follow the link below). In Eastern Africa, for instance, there is a general consensus that there was a peak (regional population maximum) around the late 1960s and early 1970s. In Southern Africa, which now harbours the largest known populations on the continent, elephant numbers are believed to have been at their lowest around the turn of the 20th century, and to have been increasing steadily ever since. In West Africa, major declines probably occurred well before the turn of the 20th century and the population remained at low levels ever since. There is insufficient information on sub-regional trends in Central Africa prior to 1977, but elephant populations have probably declined since. This is important as Central Africa accounts for a large proportion of the estimated continental range, but our knowledge of its current population size is the weakest.
Thus for the continental (global) population, an extrapolation back to the beginning of three generations (1927) would be plagued with high levels of variability and uncertainty.
Clearly, forward extrapolation to 2052 would also be troubled by uncertainty, not only for the reasons cited above, but also because of the variety of causes for decline and the nature of the current and likely future threats - mainly habitat loss and illegal hunting for both meat and ivory - which are in themselves variable in intensity across the continent.
Taking these problems into account, the consensus among contributors to this assessment was that it would be an appropriate and acceptable compromise, more likely to err on the conservative side, to assume the continental population of three generations ago to be equal to that of one generation ago.
Current population data were obtained from the African Elephant Status Report 2002 (Blanc et al. 2003), and broadly comparable estimates for one elephant-generation (25 years) ago were obtained from the African Elephant Action Plan (Douglas-Hamilton 1979) and other sources (see Data Sources).
The African Elephant was previously listed as Endangered (EN A1b) under the IUCN Categories and Criteria version 2.3 (1994), in an assessment conducted in 1996 by the IUCN SSC African Elephant Specialist Group.
The present assessment uses IUCN Categories and Criteria version 3.1, and presents a more structured evaluation of the data available. It is not possible to state whether the change in the listing is due to real changes in the status of the species, to the availability of better information and/or to the use of different methods of assessment.
| For further information about this species, see 12392.pdf (153 KB). A PDF viewer such as Adobe Acrobat Reader is required. |
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History:
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| 1986 | - | Vulnerable (IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre 1986) |
| 1988 | - | Vulnerable (IUCN Conservation Monitoring Centre 1988) |
| 1990 | - | Vulnerable (IUCN 1990) |
| 1994 | - | Vulnerable (Groombridge 1994) |
| 1996 | - | Endangered (Baillie and Groombridge 1996) |
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Geographic Range
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Range Description:
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The countries of occurrence are listed above, but see also the range map in Blanc et al. 2003.
| For further information about this species, see 12392.pdf (153 KB). A PDF viewer such as Adobe Acrobat Reader is required. |
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Countries:
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Native:
Angola; Benin; Botswana; Burkina Faso; Cameroon; Central African Republic; Chad; Congo; Congo, The Democratic Republic of the; Côte d'Ivoire; Equatorial Guinea; Eritrea; Ethiopia; Gabon; Ghana; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Kenya; Liberia; Malawi; Mali; Mozambique; Namibia; Niger; Nigeria; Rwanda; Senegal; Sierra Leone; Somalia; South Africa; Sudan; Tanzania, United Republic of; Togo; Uganda; Zambia; Zimbabwe
Reintroduced:
Swaziland
Regionally extinct:
Burundi; Gambia; Mauritania
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Population
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Population:
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Although elephant populations may at present be stable or increasing in some sub-regions (Eastern and Southern Africa respectively), the trend is unknown in other regions, and overall there remains insufficient information to venture a current trend at the continental level.
| For further information about this species, see 12392.pdf (153 KB). A PDF viewer such as Adobe Acrobat Reader is required. |
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Population Trend:
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Habitat and Ecology
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Habitat and Ecology:
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The African Elephant is very catholic in its range, and tends to move between a variety of habitats. It is found in dense forest, open and closed savanna, grassland and, at considerably lower densities, in the arid deserts of Namibia and Mali. They are also found over wide altitudinal and latitudinal ranges – from mountain slopes to oceanic beaches, and from the northern tropics to the southern temperate zone (approximately between 16.5° North and 34° South).
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System:
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Terrestrial
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Conservation Actions
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Conservation Actions:
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Listed in CITES Appendix I in 1989, but the populations of the following Range States have since been transferred back to Appendix II with specific annotations: Botswana (1997), Namibia (1997), South Africa (2000) and Zimbabwe (1997).
Enjoys various degrees of legal protection in all range states. The sport hunting of elephants is permitted under the legislation of a number of range states, and the following countries currently have CITES export quotas for elephant trophies: Botswana, Cameroon, Gabon, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
Occurs in a number of protected areas, but up to 80% of the species range is believed to lie outside protected areas.
Other important conservation measures include the development of national and regional strategies for elephant conservation and management, population control and human-elephant conflict mitigation. See Conservation Actions above for more details.
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