African Elephants recognised as two separate species.
African elephants have always been considered the same species, but in reality they had split from each other into two distinct species over 5 - 6 million years ago, around the time when humans separated from chimpanzees.
In the latest IUCN ‘Red List assessment - a list which measures the change of global diversity and evaluates the chances of extinction in the foreseeable future based on past and expected future trends, IUCN opted to assess the African elephants as two separate species, forest elephants and savanna elephants.
While people are still amazed by their evolution throughout the history, the IUCN had conducted research and found that in respect of the two elephant species, they have been classified as ‘vulnerable’ to ‘endangered’ for savanna elephants, and ‘critically endangered’ for forest elephants. Endangered and critically endangered are the lowest categories on the IUCN Red List before a species is declared extinct in the wild, and it shows a much higher risk of extinction.
Scientific and political experts had commented that forest elephants had been an understudied species in the past, and most of the research findings were based on savanna elephants, which might suggest that forest elephants might have become ‘endangered’ long before the latest IUCN Red List assessment was carried out.
Poaching and the “silent killer” of human-driven habitat loss have caused sharp declines, with forest elephant numbers falling by 86% in the past 31 years and savanna elephants by about 60% in the past half-century. It sounds daunting, but the only blessing in disguise is that by reclassifying the African elephants into two species and evaluating their respective chances of extinction, people more dedicated attention can be paid to each species as well as tailor-made conservative plans. However, leading international conservation bodies such as CITES, which regulates the international trade in endangered species, still has not recognised the two types of African elephants as separate species.
In order to halt the decline in these elephants’ population, regulating poaching is simply not enough, we must also protect elements in the face of their conflict of interests with humans. As Dr. Bem Okita-Ouma, co-chair of the IUCN Elephant Group and Head of Monitoring for Save the Elephant commented: -
“As much as we may see that poaching has gone down in many countries, there is this silent killer of habitat fragmentation and habitat loss. During encroaching on elephant habitats, there are conflicts between elephants and people. In the process, elephants are killed.”
If we still want to live in a world with elephants, we must find socially equitable solutions for conserving them and their future is in our hands.
Courtesy of Kelly Ma
Main Source: The Guardian
