ANMELDUNG Abo-Nr.: Passwort:  

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 Former distribution: All over the African continent, except in the deserts.
Present distribution: Africa, south of the Sahara. From southern Mauritania to Senegal, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, western Mali, Burkina Faso, Benin, north-eastern Nigeria, southern Niger, southern Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Gabon, Congo, Zaire, northern and southern Angola, southern Sudan, southern and western Ethiopia, southern Somalia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, northern Botswana, northern Namibia, South Africa only in Transvaal, Krüger National Park, the Knysna Forest at Port Elisabeth and the Addo National Park in the Cape Province.
Behaviour: Preferred habitat: all typical vegetation areas in Africa, except extreme desert without fresh water - from tropical rain forests to savanna, woodlands, thick bush and heavy grass, open plains up to high snow-covered mountains. Elephants are gregarious, living in family herds with females and their offspring. The bulls join these groups when the mating starts. Old bulls live solitary lives. The social society of a herd is matriarchal, based on a dominant female. They browse and graze trees, branches, bark, grasses and fruits: activity both diurnal and nocturnal.
Population status: Stable in national parks and game reserves. Endangered outside these sanctuaries. Total population 500 000 elephants (1989)? Tendency: decreasing.
Brief notes:
Body weight: 6000 kg
Head and body length: 600-750 cm
Tail length: 90-110 cm
Shoulder height: 300-400 cm
Trunk length: 200-220 cm
Gestation period: 22 months
Maximum age: 60 years (80 years in captivity).
Trophy: Tusk record RW's: 133 kg; 349 cm; Americ. Nat. Collect. 102.30 kg, 311.15 cm length, British Museum. SCI: 288 score, R. DE CESARE, 1986 Ethiopia; average 100 score. CIC: 531.85 points, Tanzania; average 350 points.
Hunting methods: Stalking.
Subspecies: 2 (The status of a third subspecies, L.a. pumilio, is very controversial and not recognized here).
1. Loxodonta a. africana South of the Sahara in all bush and savanna areas. Stable.
2. Loxodonta a. cyclotis West and central African rain forests. Stable. Population figures, estimated (1987/88): Mauritania: 60-100; Knysna Forest, S.A.: 12-15; Addo Reserve: 70; Kruger National Park: 8000; Kenya: 50 000; Tanzania; 55 000; Mozambique: 5000-6000?; Angola: 2000-3000; Uganda: 2000; Zimbabwe: 20 000?; Botswana: 8000?; Cameroon: 10 000?; Central African Republic: 10 000; Congo: 25 000?; Gabon: 10 000?; Zaire: 50 000?; Namibia: 4000; Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau: nearly extinct.
Remarks: The first rapid decline of elephants was due to the ivory trade and started in the 17th century; mainly by Arabs in West Africa. East Africa followed with white hunters between 1900 and 1910, and continued all over the continent. However, today it is no longer the hunting, but poachers and organized culling programmes, organized by the local national park authorities. A well studied management programme for the conservation of these unique big game animals has up till now failed completely. The future of these animals seems to be extinction, except in some well controlled national parks. The elephant population in Kenya fell from 167 000 in 1973 to 60 000 in 1980. The figures in 1987, were 50 000. In the Central African Republic the population dropped in 20 years from 160 000 down to 10 000 in 1988. Conflicts between human populations and the destruction of grassland bush and woodland due to high elephant densities is foreseen, and may be unavoidable.

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