Posts tagged Elephant
African Elephants recognised as two separate species.
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. The savanna elephant is larger, has curving tusks, and roams the open plains of sub-Saharan Africa. The smaller, darker forest elephant, with straight tusks, lives in the equatorial forests of Central and West Africa.

Now, for the first time, scientists have separately evaluated how the two are faring—and the findings are grim.

Courtesy of Kelly Ma

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NewsKim McCoyElephant, IUCN Red LIst, Conservation, Wildlife ConservationComment
[Series] The Cost of Wildlife Tourism - Asian Elephants
[Series] The Cost of Wildlife Tourism - Asian Elephants

In Part 4 of our series into The Cost of Wildlife Tourism, we learn about how tourist demand for a personal encounter with the Asian Elephant, world’s largest land-based mammal, has led to permanent physical deformities and severe injuries of these animals. We also expose the different forms of corporal punishment or “phajaan” each elephant has to suffer through in order to be sufficiently tamed for wildlife tourism.

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BlogKim McCoyCost of Wildlife Tourism, Elephant, Asian Elephant, Phaajan, TourismComment