Africa

The IUCN has revealed that African forest elephants are now critically endangered. Savanna elephants have also been listed as endangered on the IUCN’s Red List. The IUCN previously classified African elephants as 1 species, but genetic evidence revealed they are 2 distinct species. According to the IUCN, around 415,000 elephants remain in Africa. The number of forest elephants has fallen by over 86% in the last 30 years, while the number of savanna elephants has fallen by at least 60% in the last 50 years. Experts say that ivory poaching and the degradation and fragmentation of land are the two major causes of the decline. While on the surface this looks bleak, the fact it's being flagged is actually positive, Isla Duporge from the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit at the University of Oxford.