ELEPHANTS & IVORY

GUINEA-
BISSAU
GAMBIA
SENEGAL
GUINEA
MOROCCO
MAURITANIA
SIERRA LEONE
CôTE D’IVOIRE
( IVORY COAST )
WEST AFRICA
BURKINA
FASO
LIBERIA
SAHARA DESERT
MEDITERRANEAN SEA
ALGERIA LIBYA EGYPT
MALI
GHANA TOGO
BENIN
CENTRAL AFRICA
ATLANTIC OCEAN
NIGERIA
CAMEROON
EQUATORIAL GUINEA
GABON
SOUTHERN AFRICA
NIGER
CONGO
CHAD
CENTRAL AFRICAN
REPUBLIC
ANGOLA
NAMIBIA
DEMOCRATIC
REPUBLIC OF THE
CONGO
ZAMBIA
BOTSWANA
SOUTH AFRICA
BURUNDI
SUDAN
SOUTH SUDAN
UGANDA
MALAWI
ZIMBABWE
RED SEA
ETHIOPIA
SWAZILAND
ERITREA
KENYA
RWANDA
TANZANIA
MADAGASCAR
MOZAMBIQUE
SOMALIA
INDIAN OCEAN
EASTERN
AFRICA
DISTRIBUTION
Early in recorded human history, African elephants
are said to have ranged throughout the entire
African continent, from the Mediterranean Sea
to South Africa, including the Sahara. Later, their
distribution became limited to the sub-Saharan
region. Today, their range has been further
reduced to parts of West, central, eastern and
southern Africa (Figure 1). 17
African elephants currently exist in 37 countries
(Figure 1): Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso,
Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo,
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC),
Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia,
Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya,
Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger,
Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia,
South Africa, The Republic of South Sudan,
Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and
Swaziland (where they have been reintroduced).
African elephants have been declared regionally
extinct in Burundi, Gambia, and Mauritania. 18
AFRICAN FOREST ELEPHANTS
African forest elephants inhabit the rainforests
of Central Africa – the Congo basin (Cameroon,
Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of
Congo, Republic of Congo, Gabon and Equatorial
Guinea) – and West Africa, although it has been
suggested that another distinct elephant species
may reside in West Africa. 19
AFRICAN SAVANNA ELEPHANTS
African savanna elephants are said to live
throughout the sub-Saharan regions of eastern,
and southern Africa. 20
NUMBERS OF AFRICAN ELEPHANTS
The most recent estimates of African elephant
numbers were compiled by IUCN and published in
the African Elephant Status Report 2007. 21 At that
time, the total number of elephants “definitely”
known was estimated as 472,269. Adding in
probable, possible, and speculative estimates
raised this total to 698,671 (see Appendix 2 for a
summary of numbers by region and country). In
reflecting on the significance of these numbers,
it is sobering to realize that they are based on
surveys covering only 51 per cent of presumed
elephant range. Clearly, no one really knows how
many elephants remain in Africa today. All we can
really say is that – based on current knowledge –
the number may be somewhere between 470,000
and 700,000. The range of uncertainty associated
with such estimates does not appear to have
been quantified and the number of animals that
continue to survive in the 49% of elephant range
that has not been surveyed is anyone’s guess.
Given the uncertainty about the precise
distribution of individual African elephant species,
and the uncertainty associated with current
estimates of elephant numbers, it is premature to
attempt individual estimates for African forest and
savanna elephants.
FIGURE 1 | Compiled from various sources; distribution (in red) from IUCN. 18
CONSERVATION STATUS
Where the conservation status of African
elephants has been designated by international
organizations and conventions, little attempt has
been made to distinguish between species. African
elephants are listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red
List of Threatened Species. All African elephants
were included in Appendix I of the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)
in 1989. 22 Today, they remain on Appendix I, with
the exception of those populations that live in
Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe,
which are now listed on Appendix II. 23
The Convention on Migratory Species (CMS)
stands apart from IUCN and CITES in that it
recognizes the existence of both the African
savanna elephant and the African forest elephant.
It includes both species on its Appendix II. 24
33