African elephants extinction risk from poaching and habitat loss

African elephants are at increasing risk of extinction in the face of poaching for ivory and the loss of their habitat, the latest conservation assessment warns.

Forest elephants are now listed as critically endangered, at the highest risk of extinction, and savanna elephants are endangered in the new International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.

It marks a worsening outlook for Africa’s elephants, which were previously assessed as a single species in the list and placed in the lower risk category of “vulnerable” to extinction.

The two species have seen big declines over the decades, with numbers of forest elephants falling by more than 86% over 31 years and savanna elephants declining by at least 60% over 50 years, experts said.

Both forest and savanna elephants have suffered sharp falls in numbers since 2008 in the face of a significant increase of poaching for ivory, which peaked in 2011 but continues to threaten populations.

Ongoing conversion of habitats, mostly to agriculture and other land uses, also poses a significant threat to the

world’s largest land animal, the report warns.

IUCN director-general Dr Bruno Oberle said: “Africa’s elephants play key roles in ecosystems, economies and in our collective imagination.

“We must put an end to poaching and ensure that sufficient suitable habitat for both forest and savanna elephants is conserved.”

African savanna elephants are an endangered species.