Editing Elephant (section)

==Conservation==
===Status===
{{see also|List of elephant species by population}}
[[File:Elefanti.jpg|thumb|A family of African forest elephants in the [[Dzanga-Sangha Special Reserve]] wetlands. This species is considered to be critically endangered.]]
African bush elephants were listed as [[Endangered]] by the [[International Union for Conservation of Nature]] (IUCN) in 2021,<ref name="IUCN">{{cite iucn |title=''Loxodonta africana.'' |author1=Gobush, K. S. |author2=Edwards, C. T. T. |author3=Maisels, F. |author4=Wittemeyer, G. |author5=Balfour, D. |author6=Taylor, R. D. |date=2021 |page=e.T181008073A181022663 |access-date=25 March 2021 |url=https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/181008073/181022663}}</ref> and African forest elephants were listed as [[Critically Endangered]] in the same year.<ref>{{cite iucn |title=''Loxodonta cyclotis'' |author1=Gobush, K. S. |author2=Edwards, C. T. T. |author3=Maisels, F. |author4=Wittemeyer, G. |author5=Balfour, D. |author6=Taylor, R. D. |name-list-style=amp |date=2021 |page=e.T181007989A181019888 |access-date=25 March 2021}}</ref> In 1979, Africa had an estimated population of at least 1.3&nbsp;million elephants, possibly as high as 3.0&nbsp;million. A decade later, the population was estimated to be 609,000; with 277,000 in Central Africa, 110,000 in Eastern Africa, 204,000 in Southern Africa, and 19,000 in Western Africa. The population of rainforest elephants was lower than anticipated, at around 214,000 individuals. Between 1977 and 1989, elephant populations declined by 74% in East Africa. After 1987, losses in elephant numbers hastened, and savannah populations from Cameroon to Somalia experienced a decline of 80%. African forest elephants had a total loss of 43%. Population trends in southern Africa were various, with unconfirmed losses in Zambia, Mozambique and Angola while populations grew in Botswana and Zimbabwe and were stable in South Africa.<ref>Douglas-Hamilton, pp. 178–82.</ref> The IUCN estimated that total population in Africa is estimated at to 415,000 individuals for both species combined as of 2016.<ref>{{cite web|author1=Thouless, C. R.|author2= Dublin, H. T.|author3= Blanc, J. J.|author4= Skinner, D. P.|author5= Daniel, T. E.|author6= Taylor, R. D.|author7= Maisels, F.|author8= Frederick, H. L.|author9= Bouché, P.|year=2016|title=African Elephant Status Report 2016|publisher=IUCN African Elephant Database|access-date=2021-06-05|url=https://portals.iucn.org/library/sites/library/files/documents/SSC-OP-060_A.pdf|archive-date=27 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210627110047/https://portals.iucn.org/library/sites/library/files/documents/SSC-OP-060_A.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

African elephants receive at least some legal protection in every country where they are found. Successful conservation efforts in certain areas have led to high population densities while failures have led to declines as high as 70% or more of the course of ten years. As of 2008, local numbers were controlled by contraception or [[Species translocation|translocation]]. Large-scale [[culling]]s stopped in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1989, the African elephant was listed under Appendix I by the [[CITES|Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora]] (CITES), making trade illegal. Appendix II status (which allows restricted trade) was given to elephants in Botswana, Namibia, and Zimbabwe in 1997 and South Africa in 2000. In some countries, [[Trophy hunting|sport hunting]] of the animals is legal; Botswana, Cameroon, Gabon, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe have CITES export quotas for elephant trophies.<ref name=IUCN />

In 2020, the IUCN listed the Asian elephant as [[endangered]] due to the population declining by half over "the last three generations".<ref name="IUCN2">{{cite iucn |author1=Williams, C. |display-authors=etal |year=2020 |url=https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/7140/45818198 |title=''Elephas maximus'' |access-date=2020-06-03}}</ref> Asian elephants once ranged from [[Western Asia|Western]] to [[East Asia]] and south to [[Sumatra]].<ref name=Shoshani174>Daniel, p. 174.</ref> and Java. It is now extinct in these areas,<ref name=IUCN2 /> and the current range of Asian elephants is highly fragmented.<ref name=Shoshani174 /> The total population of Asian elephants is estimated to be around 40,000–50,000, although this may be a loose estimate. Around 60% of the population is in India. Although Asian elephants are declining in numbers overall, particularly in Southeast Asia, the population in the [[Western Ghats]] may have stabilised.<ref name=IUCN2 />

===Threats===
{{See also|Elephant ivory|Elephant meat}}
[[File:Ivory trade.jpg|thumb|upright|Men with elephant tusks at [[Dar es Salaam]], Tanzania, {{Circa|1900}}]]
The [[poaching]] of elephants for their ivory, meat and hides has been one of the major threats to their existence.<ref name=IUCN2 /> Historically, numerous cultures made ornaments and other works of art from elephant ivory, and its use was comparable to that of gold.<ref name=Shoshani202>Martin, pp. 202–07</ref> The ivory trade contributed to the fall of the African elephant population in the late 20th century.<ref name=IUCN /> This prompted international bans on ivory imports, starting with the United States in June 1989, and followed by bans in other North American countries, western European countries, and Japan.<ref name=Shoshani202 /> Around the same time, Kenya destroyed all its ivory stocks.<ref name="ivory">{{cite magazine|author=Christy, B.|date=October 2012|title=Ivory Worship|magazine=National Geographic|url=http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/10/ivory/christy-text|access-date=17 October 2012|archive-date=26 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150926142015/http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/10/ivory/christy-text|url-status=dead}}</ref> Ivory was banned internationally by CITES in 1990. Following the bans, unemployment rose in India and China, where the ivory industry was important economically. By contrast, Japan and Hong Kong, which were also part of the industry, were able to adapt and were not as badly affected.<ref name=Shoshani202 /> Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Malawi wanted to continue the ivory trade and were allowed to, since their local populations were healthy, but only if their supplies were from culled individuals or those that died of natural causes.<ref name=ivory />

The ban allowed the elephant to recover in parts of Africa.<ref name=Shoshani202 /> In February 2012, 650 elephants in [[Bouba Njida National Park]], Cameroon, were slaughtered by Chadian raiders.<ref>{{Cite news|last1=Hicks|first1=Celeste|title=86 elephants killed in Chad poaching massacre|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/mar/19/86-elephants-chad-poaching-massacre|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=23 September 2015|date=19 March 2013|archive-date=25 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925125357/http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/mar/19/86-elephants-chad-poaching-massacre|url-status=live}}</ref> This has been called "one of the worst concentrated killings" since the ivory ban.<ref name="ivory" /> Asian elephants are potentially less vulnerable to the ivory trade, as females usually lack tusks. Still, members of the species have been killed for their ivory in some areas, such as [[Periyar National Park]] in India.<ref name=IUCN2 /> China was the biggest market for poached ivory but announced they would phase out the legal domestic manufacture and sale of ivory products in May 2015, and in September 2015, China and the United States said "they would enact a nearly complete ban on the import and export of ivory" due to causes of extinction.<ref>{{Cite news|author=Ryan, F.|url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/sep/26/china-and-us-agree-on-ivory-ban-in-bid-to-end-illegal-trade-globally|title=China and US agree on ivory ban in bid to end illegal trade globally|date=26 September 2015|access-date=12 October 2015|newspaper=The Guardian|archive-date=21 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191221145628/https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/sep/26/china-and-us-agree-on-ivory-ban-in-bid-to-end-illegal-trade-globally|url-status=live}}</ref>

Other threats to elephants include [[habitat destruction]] and [[Habitat fragmentation|fragmentation]]. The Asian elephant lives in areas with some of the highest human populations and may be confined to small islands of forest among human-dominated landscapes. Elephants commonly trample and consume crops, which contributes to conflicts with humans, and both elephants and humans have died by the hundreds as a result. Mitigating these conflicts is important for conservation. One proposed solution is the protection of [[wildlife corridor]]s which give populations greater interconnectivity and space.<ref name=IUCN2 /> Chili pepper products as well as guarding with defense tools have been found to be effective in preventing crop-raiding by elephants. Less effective tactics include [[beehive fence|beehive]] and [[electric fences]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Montgomery|first1=R. A.|last2=Raupp|first2=J|last3=Mukhwana|first3=M|last4=Greenleaf|first4=A|last5=Mudumba|first5=T|last6=Muruthi|first6=P|year=2022|title=The efficacy of interventions to protect crops from raiding elephants|journal=Ambio|volume=51|issue=3|pages=716–727|doi=10.1007/s13280-021-01587-x|pmid=34173175 |pmc=8800974 |bibcode=2022Ambio..51..716M }}</ref>