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Elephant poaching in Niassa Reserve, Mozambique: population impact revealed by combined survey trends for live elephants and carcasses

28/10/2014

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Trends in the populations of large herbivores in Niassa Reserve, Mozambique, have been monitored through biennial aerial surveys since 1998. The elephant Loxodonta africana population has been subjected to intensive illegal hunting since 2006. We used a simple population model to mimic the observed trends in the numbers of live and dead elephants to demonstrate the impact of poaching. The number of fresh or recent carcasses recorded was used in the model as an index of the annual mortality rate. A maximum likelihood analysis to compare population models revealed that the best fit to the survey estimates of both live elephants and old or very old carcasses was a model that started with 6,635 elephants in 1987. This number increased through births by 4.6% annually and decreased through deaths from natural and anthropogenic causes. In the best-fit model, the mean mortality rate in any year was 3.2 times the observed 1 + 2 carcass ratio (ratio for carcasses in age categories 1 and 2, and carcasses remained visible for a mean of 6 years. The model suggested that c. 900  elephants were poached during 2007-2010 and another c. 1,000 during 2011. Population estimates for live elephants and carcasses are now routine outcomes of aerial surveys conducted as part of the CITES program me for Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants, and our method can be applied to any population with a time series of estimates for live and dead elephants.

Paper reference:
Elephant poaching in Niassa Reserve, Mozambique: population impact revealed by combined survey trends for live elephants and carcasses
Vernon R. Booth and Kevin M. Dunham
ORYX
Published online October 14, 2014

NM
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Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) reassure others in distress

18/2/2014

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Contact directed by uninvolved bystanders toward others in distress, often termed consolation, is uncommon in the animal kingdom, thus far only demonstrated in the great apes, canines, and corvids. Whereas the typical agonistic context of such contact is relatively rare within natural elephant families, other causes of distress may trigger similar, other-regarding responses. In a study carried out at an elephant camp in Thailand, we found that elephants affiliated significantly more with other individuals through directed, physical contact and vocal communication following a distress event than in control periods. In addition, bystanders affiliated with each other, and matched the behavior and emotional state of the first distressed individual, suggesting emotional contagion. The initial distress responses were overwhelmingly directed toward ambiguous stimuli, thus making it difficult to determine if bystanders reacted to the distressed individual or showed a delayed response to the same stimulus. Nonetheless, the directionality of the contacts and their nature strongly suggest attention toward the emotional states of conspecifics. The elephants’ behavior is therefore best classified with similar consolation responses by apes, possibly based on convergent evolution of empathic capacities.

Paper at the following link:
Plotnik JM, de Waal FB. (2014) Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) reassure others in distress. PeerJ 2:e278 http://dx.doi.org/10.7717/peerj.278

NM
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Forest Elephants Establishing Communities Near Humans and Development in Gabon

8/1/2014

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Conservation of wide-ranging species, such as the African forest elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis), depends on fully protected areas and multiple-use areas (MUA) that provide habitat connectivity. In the Gamba Complex of Protected Areas in Gabon, which includes 2 national parks separated by a MUA containing energy and forestry concessions, we studied forest elephants to evaluate the importance of the MUA to wide-ranging species. We extracted DNA from elephant dung samples and used genetic information to identify over 500 individuals in the MUA and the parks. We then examined patterns of nuclear microsatellites and mitochondrial control-region sequences to infer population structure, movement patterns, and habitat use by age and sex. Population structure was weak but significant, and differentiation was more pronounced during the wet season. Within the MUA, males were more strongly associated with open habitats, such as wetlands and savannas, than females during the dry season. Many of the movements detected within and between seasons involved the wetlands and bordering lagoons. Our results suggest that the MUA provides year-round habitat for some elephants and additional habitat for others whose primary range is in the parks. With the continuing loss of roadless wilderness areas in Central Africa, well-managed MUAs will likely be important to the conservation of wide-ranging species.

Paper at the following link:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cobi.12161/abstract

NM

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Status of elephant populations: CITES report

19/8/2011

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Please find beneath the CITES report concerning the status of elephant populations, levels of illegal killing and the trade in ivory:
Status of elephant populations, levels of illegal killing and the trade in ivory - CITES report.pdf
File Size: 833 kb
File Type: pdf
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