Credit: David Griffin
A study reported in the journal
Current Biology on April 1 has both good news and bad news for the future of African elephants. While about 18 million square kilometers of Africa an area bigger than the whole of Russia still has suitable habitat for elephants, the actual range of African elephants has shrunk to just 17%of what it could be due to human pressure and the killing of elephants for ivory. We looked at every square kilometer of the continent, says lead author Jake Wall of the Mara Elephant Project in Kenya. We found that 62% of those 29.2 million square kilometers is suitable habitat.