The destruction and fragmentation of elephant habitats due to human population growth and expansion have become a pressing issue. Deforestation, urbanization, and agricultural expansion are leading causes of habitat shrinkage, restricting elephants' access to food sources, social structures, and roaming areas.
This habitat loss fuels increased human-elephant conflict as elephants encroach on human settlements. Conservationists have observed a significant decline in elephant populations due to habitat loss, with the geographic range of elephants shrinking by 30% over the past two decades. Historical records suggest that there were over 12 million elephants in the wild a century ago, which has dwindled to an estimated 400,000 remaining today.
Poaching
Illegal poachers kill tens of thousands of elephants each year for their tusks – sold as ivory – which often has a street value that exceeds that of gold. Elephants with large tusks are the most poached, and their eradication from herds those genes are less likely to be passed on – weakening the genetic health of future generations.
Despite anti-poaching laws and initiatives, poachers kill as many as 20,000 elephants every year as their own (untoward) way of surviving the extreme levels of poverty in Africa. The link is that poachers can often make more from selling ivory than they can from working jobs for several months.
Human-Elephant Conflict
Conflicts arise when elephants damage crops or property and threaten human lives. Elephants roam over large spaces. As habitats shrink, migration routes get blocked. Food and water may become less accessible and this forces elephants to find other resources – often closer to areas where people live.
This can lead to elephants looking for crops or where food is stored in villages, causing considerable damage. The loss of crops and food sources may be life-threatening for both elephants and humans. In many cases, the people living nearby sometimes retaliate by killing elephants. It’s estimated that tens of thousands of elephants are killed by people across Africa yearly.
Climate Change
Changing weather patterns and drought conditions are impacting the availability of food and water sources for elephants. These changes to vegetation and ecosystems cause elephants to venture into new territories that then present conflict with humans.
Drought conditions are also causing a shift in the vegetation in some elephant grazing areas. Grasslands are expanding, which are more favorable to grazing animals rather than forest elephants that rely on leaves and fruit. With fewer tree foods available, elephants are forced to find other food sources, such as crops.
Solutions
To tackle the challenges facing the elephant population, several crucial steps must be taken. Ongoing awareness and education about the struggles elephants face is essential. Increasing public knowledge about the threats to elephants and promoting the idea that owning ivory products is socially unacceptable can encourage individuals to take proactive measures.
Resources; https://www.epiuse.com/aws-services