Natalia Uehara BIOL 4351

Ecology and Conservation status of Loxodonta Africana: an approach to its Biological

Conservation

Introduction

There are two species of African elephant, which are respectively a Savanna Elephant

(Loxodonta africana) and the forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) (Blanc, J. 2008). In this paper,

I chose the savanna African elephant (Loxodonta africana). Loxodonta africana is presently

found in the south of the Sahara desert, which encompasses a quarter of the whole Africa

(Encyclopedia of Life).

Elephants in general suffer many threats in environment due to human populations’

expansion, human poaching, trafficking, killing, and illegal ivory (Blanc, J. 2008; Encyclopedia

of Life). Generally, hunting occurred to several species but because elephant got ivory and there

was a great demand for products made of it, elephants had been massively hunted (Håkansson,

2004). In 2009, it was estimated that near 14,000 artifacts were ivory-made.  To sustain this

ivory trade, between 8% and 10% (which represents near 40,000 killed elephants per year) of

African elephants have being hunted (Encyclopedia of Life).

As elephants playing an important role in environment, their continuous decreasing

number triggers many snowballing effects. For instance, savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana)

are important in converting their habitat to grasslands. In Uganda, where elephants reduced from

thousands to hundreds, the dense woodland effected the population density of other animals,

changing the whole fauna and flora structure (Eltringham, 1992).

In the following, I intend to approach the importance, ecology and threats. I also suggest

changing the conservation status of African elephants, specifically Loxodonta africana lto

Endangered.

Ecology and snowballing effects

As herbivorous, each elephant can eat from 100 to 300 kg of plant food, ranging from

grass, herbs, and shrubs to trees, per day. However, their pattern choices depend on the seasons

and the plant species. In savanna, as grasses start growing in rainy seasons, this plant food

comprises between from 50% to 60% of their consumption.  On the other hand, in drought

seasons, grasses become tough and they prefer leaves, fruits and shrubs, which corresponds 70%

of their diet. Temperature is a determinant factor to choose the time of the day to graze: cooler

parts of the day are preferred (in the morning and in the late afternoon to evening). They also can

drink up to 200 liters of water in hot periods. If there is no food or water, elephants will migrate

to find it. In the average, elephants walk 80 km per day and because of that, they are very

important to help dispersing seeds by their fecal material (Encyclopedia of Life).  

   Because of their diet, elephants are responsible for settling a disease-free (healthy)

environment. As the open grassland and the presence of elephants are correlated, in the eastern

Africa where the number of African elephants decreased, woody vegetation took part of the new

habitat. In Uganda, tsetse fly population’s densities (vector of the sleeping sickness) start

increasing, as they depend on woody vegetation in order to survive, where elephants are absent.

On the other hand, animals that live in savannas, like giraffe, zebras and lions would start

migrating because of the drastic habitat change (Håkansson, 2004; Nuñez & Dimarco, 2012;

Encyclopedia of Life).

While some species depend on elephant’s absence, other animals depend on African

elephants’ habits to survive. For instance, some species like pygmies and humans take advantage

of the holes dug by elephants in dry riverbeds. Furthermore, it has estimated that one third of

plant species seed co-evolved in a way that they have to pass through elephant's digestion in

order to be able to germinate. Furthermore, other herbivores depend on the fresh open grasslands

provided by African elephants (WWF, 2011; Nuñez & Dimarco, 2012; Encyclopedia of Life).

Threats

Unfortunately, humans represent the major threat to the African elephant. The intensive

hunting for ivory and meat caused a great decline in the population number of elephants. A

research on the human ecology of world systems in East Africa shows that the ivory trade, for

instance, has impacts not only in the ecological aspect but social and economical also. Despite of

the fact that poaching was considered illegal to some extent areas, human occupation, that took

place in some places due to the ivory trade, caused habitat fragmentation. Maps of populations

densities of Figure 1, 2 and 3 show how habitats were fragmented and populations declined in

the West Africa from 1840 to 2008. (WWF, 2011; Encyclopedia of Life)

It is estimated that from 1930 to 1940, the African elephants' populations ranged from 3

to 5 million. Currently, this number has decreased to hundreds in West Africa. However, in

Southern Africa, favorably, the number is increasing again. Radius of the elephants’ habitat can

go up to 30 km and because they need a large amount of land to live, humans have become their

direct competitors for space.  The exponential population growth, mainly in Africa and Asia,

transformed forest and savanna to croplands (Håkansson, 2004).

Argument for keeping or replacing threat level of VU

Today, the ivory trade is banned by the African Elephant Conservation Act of 1988 as an

attempt to reverse this dangerous trend. In 2008, IUCN Red List of Threatened Species

considered the species as vulnerable. However, by monitoring African elephant carcasses, recent

studies showed that almost 75% of local elephant populations are declining (Wittemyer et al,

2014).

Fig.

1.

Distribution and habitat of Loxodonta Africana (IUCN, 2008)

Fig. 3. Average annual population changes (lambda) between 2010 and 2012 (Wittemyer, 2014)

Approximately 100,000 African elephants were illegally hunted from 2010 through 2012.

In 2011, one out of twelve African elephants was poached (National Geographic, 2014). Studies

made by CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) using similar data to

expose the species’ status, monitoring the field study of 66 sites. Although this research did not

cover much of the African elephant’s area, their MIKE (monitoring the illegal killing of

elephants) method was used in Wittemyer research (Wittemyer et al, 2014).

There are several and common traits that can lead certain species to be more vulnerable

to extinction: low reproductive rate and densities; scarcity, specific, large and definite habitat

area; large body and slow to be sexually matured. We can also forecast if a species go to extinct

by studying their geological and historical patterns combined with their habitat destruction and

overutilization (Meffe, Gary K. and C. Ronald Carroll, 1997).

Unfortunately, with the exception of the specific habitat characteristic, African elephants

follow all of these patterns. Their growth rate in the absence of illegal poaching is 4.2% per year;

a female gestation period takes up to 2 years; females may take up to 4 or 5 year to give birth;

they are best sexually matured between 25 and 45. To make the elephant’s biological

conservation status worse, their rate of decline is 28.8%. If this killing rate endures, the animals

could be decimated in 100 years (Enclopedia of Life; Wittemyer et al, 2014 ). Based on that, I

would consider this taxon as a Endangered species and not as a Vulnerable.

Conclusion

As a keystone species, the loss of African elephants would compromise the whole

ecology structure with irreversible effects. Since CITES studies on the populations are still

uncertain, the research made by Wittemyer is important in assessing more accurately African

elephants populations and densities. Therefore, with this latter data, a new biological status of the

species can be defined. With the change on elephants conservation, wildlife conservation

organizations (located in 12 countries) can globally work for a better plan in reverting the

situation, and stopping the illegal ivory trade (CITES, 2001). Humans are the only ones who can

protect and save them and real estimates of African elephants densities are the first step.

References

Australia, ABC. "Where Have All the Elephants Gone?" YouTube. YouTube, 4 Mar. 2013. Web.

19 Feb. 2015.

Blanc, J. 2008. Loxodonta africana. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.3.

<www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 20 February 2015.

"CITES fact sheet- Loxodonta Africana" (On-line). Accessed September 28, 2001

Eltringam, S., K. Payne, W. Langbauer, Jr., C. Moss, J. Shoshani. August, 1992. Elephants,

Majestic creat. Pennsylvania: Rodale Press.

Encyclopedia of Life. Available from http://www.eol.org. Accessed 22 Jan 2014.

Estes, R. 1999. "Elephants, reprinted from "The Safari Companion"" (On-line). Accessed

October 5, 2001 at http://nature-wildlife.com/eletxt.htm.

Håkansson, Thomas N. "The Human Ecology of World Systems in East Africa: The Impact of

the I." Ivory Trade. Kluwer Academic, 01 Oct. 2004. Web. 23 Feb. 2015.

<http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10745-004-6097-7#>.

Heltberg, Rasmus. "Impact of the Ivory Trade Ban on Poaching Incentives: A Numerical

Example." Ecological Economics, 36.2 (2001): 189-195.

Meffe, Gary K., and C. Ronald Carroll. Principles of Conservation Biology. Sunderland, Ma.:

Sinauer, 1997. Print.

Nuñez, M. A. & Dimarco, R. D. 2012. Keystone species. In Craig, Pardy, Copeland Nagle,

Schmitz & Smith (Eds.), The Encyclopedia of Sustainability, Vol. 5: Ecosystem Management

and Sustainability. pp. 226–230. Great Barrington, MA: Berkshire Publishing.

Scriber, Brad. "100,000 Elephants Killed by Poachers in Just Three Years, Landmark Analysis

Finds." National Geographic. National Geographic Society, 18 Aug. 2014. Web. 11 Feb. 2015.

<http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/08/140818-elephants-africa-poaching-cites-

census/>.z

Wittemyer, George et al. "Illegal Killing for Ivory Drives Global Decline in African Elephants."

Illegal Killing for Ivory Drives Global Decline in African Elephants. Proceedings of the National

Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 3 Mar. 2014. Web. 23 Feb. 2015.

<http://www.pnas.org/content/111/36/13117.full.pdf+html>.

World Wildlife Fund (WWF). (2011). African elephant. RetrievedDecember 27, 2011, from

http://www.worldwildlife.org/species/finder/africanelephants/africanelephant.htm

“SELF ASSESSMENT. Give yourself an assessment and briefly say why you think so

Comment: I really devoted a great time writing this paper. In SCAA, my tutor said it was well

written with very few grammar mistakes.

Title (5 points). 5 points

Title summarizes my paper very well

Introduction (10 points). 10 points

In introduction, I mention elephants threats, their ecology and my opinion of their conservation

status

Ecology (20 points). 20 points

In ecology, I explain how elephants habitats are important in maintaing a healthy enviroment

based on the concept of keystone worked on class.

Threats (20 points).

I guess I could not summarize and put all the important information. 15 points

Argument for keeping or replacing threat level of VU (20 points) 20 points

The best part of my paper, I guess it's my argument for replacing threat level of VU. It is based

on several studies and I read a lot about it, using concepts of the book.

Conclusion (10 points) 10 points

My conclusion summarizes everything of the paper and sustains and repeats the idea of changing

elephants biological status

References Cited (20 points) 20 points

I watched the video about plagiarism and I learnt a lot on how to cite and make proper

paraphrases. I wrote everything in my own words and the references are cites according to the

citation rules.

Grammar and style (20 points)” 20 points

I guess I use all the verb tenses correctly with no spelling mistakes