Dear Gentle Folks,
this is a good scientific and accurate account of trade in elephant ivory.
Poaching Effects
http://www.american.edu/projects/mandala/TED/ELEPHANT.HTM
21. Name, Type, and Diversity of Species
Name: AfricanElephant (loxodonta africana)
Type: Animal/Vertibrate/Mammal
Diversity: 69 mammals per 10,000 km/sq (Zaire)
Between 1979 and 1989, the African elephant population decreased by 50 per
cent. In 1979, approximately 1.3 million live elephants were counted in
Africa. In 1988, an
estimated 750,000 African elephants remained alive. In 1992, this figure stood
at 600,000, and it is estimated that by 2025, the African elephant could be
extinct. The Central African rain forests contain 45 percent of remaining
elephants, with 31 per cent in Southern Africa,21 per cent in Eastern
Africa, and
only 3 per cent in West Africa..
Elephants reproduce fairly slowly.
Although their potential life span is approximately 60 years, today fewer than
20 per cent of the species live to the age of 30. With a gestation period of 22
months, and a high sensitivity to habitat and climate changes, populations grow
by a maximum of 7 percent per year. The degree of poaching can reduce this to
a minimum 2 per cent annual increase. Poaching has not only affected population
densities, but has impacted herd social structure in their demographic and
genetic make-up. Elephant herds are matriarchal, with the males forming small
groups or wandering as loners until females come into estrus. This only occurs
at very specific times of the year. With the decline in the male population
breeding opportunities are often missed, further slowing reproductive rates.
Female elephant fertility occurs between the ages of 25 and 45. Male elephants
over 30 years of age are sought by females to perpetuate the species. The demise
of both these groups has severely impacted on the continued existence of the
species.
Finally, although the tonnage of ivory on the international market remained
relatively stable between 1979 and 1989, the size of the tusks decreased
significantly. In 1979, the mean weight of traded tusks was 9.8 kilograms,
but by 1987 the average tusk weighed was only 4.7 kilograms. Those
elephants with larger tusks -- the elders of the herds -- have become very
rare and that poachers are killing younger animals as well as females, with
smaller tusks. Decreasing tusk size also means that more elephants need to
be killed to
obtain the same volume of ivory as before. Two other problems arise. First, the
species' genetic resources are being reduced and weakened. Second, elephant
behavior could be compromised as herd composition is fundamentally altered.
http://www.american.edu/projects/mandala/TED/ELEPHANT.HTM
>Steve Bissell writes:
>> They have been putting up road blocks to elephant management
>>for years and clearly want a complete and total ban on ivory trade. No doubt
>>some ivory trade is responsible for poaching, but the claim that *all* ivory
>>trade is responsible is simply not true.
Dear Steven Bissell and anyone else,
Please read this article which explains all the facts regarding the trade
of ivory tusks.
"You never know where fish will go."
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