African Elephants Reclassified Into Two Separate Species
Following population decline over the last few decades, due to poaching and loss of habitat, the African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis) has now been listed as ‘Critically Endangered’, with the African savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana), listed as ‘Endangered’, on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
This new decision to treat African forest and savanna elephants as two separate species is the result of research into the genetics of elephant populations. Previously, the IUCN had listed both as a single species, being ‘Vulnerable’. Following the emergence of genetic evidence, it has been found that forest and savanna elephants split from each other 5–6m years ago, at about the same time humans separated from chimpanzees, hence their reclassification.
IUCN surveys from 2016 showed there were about 415,000 elephants in Africa, with numbers of forest elephant having fallen by more than 86% over the last 31 years, whilst Savannah elephant’s population numbers by over 60% in the last 50 years.
Despite these downward trends, the IUCN’s assessment highlighted the positive impact that conservation efforts are now playing, especially with anti-poaching measures together with land-use management strategies, which seeks to foster human-wildlife coexistence. These has resulted in some forest elephants now having well-managed conservation areas in Gabon and the Republic of Congo. Numbers of our savanna elephants are also stable, and in some countries are thriving, especially in the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area, which holds the largest elephant subpopulation in Africa. This shows that conservation strategies are working and should be continued to help protect the future survival of our endangered species.
“While the results of the assessment place the continental population of savanna elephants in the Endangered category, it is important to keep in mind that at a site level, some subpopulations are thriving. For this reason, considerable caution and local knowledge are required when translating these results into policy,” said Dr Dave Balfour, assessor of the African elephants and member of the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) African Elephant Specialist Group.
How reclassification helps conservation
Reclassifying means that conservation efforts can be tailored according to each species needs. Today, climate change, along with agricultural expansion and human wildlife conflict are as much of a threat to our elephants survival as is the illegal demand for their ivory. These new classifications could have significant consequences in conservation, science and policies. Far less is known about forest elephants, with savanna elephants dominating previous studies about all African elephants. Although, some international conservation organisations, such as Cites which regulates the international trade in endangered species, do not yet recognise the two types of African elephants as separate species.
Forest elephants live in tropical forests of Central Africa and in a range of habitats in West Africa. They have a restricted natural distribution and are thought to occupy only a quarter of its historic range today, with the largest remaining populations found in Gabon and the Republic of the Congo. Savanna elephants prefer more open country and are found in a variety of habitats in Sub-Saharan Africa, including grasslands and deserts and are found in our national parks in Zambia. The ranges of the two species rarely overlap.
Find out more
The IUCN Red List now includes 134,425 species of which 37,480 are threatened with extinction. Check out their informative website at www.iucnredlist.org for more information.