ELEPHANTS & IVORY
ELEPHANTS & IVORY
ELEPHANTS & IVORY
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
APPENDIX 3 | THE PURPORTED<br />
NUMBERS OF ASIAN <strong>ELEPHANTS</strong><br />
BY COUNTRY<br />
The figures in the second column can be traced to Sukumar (2003) and are the ones used in the IUCN<br />
Red List 1 . The figures in columns 3 & 4 are from Eleaid 2 . All of the data in this table appear to be at<br />
least 7 years old and virtually all the sources cited warn about their veracity. For a critical review of the<br />
numbers country by country see Blake & Hedges (2004, Table 2).<br />
COUNTRY SUKUMAR (2003) ELEAID CAPTIVES<br />
Bangladesh 150-250 196-227 c. 100<br />
Bhutan 250–500 250-500 few<br />
Cambodia 250-400 1 400-600 >500<br />
China 200-250 200-250 few<br />
India 26,390–30,770 23,900-32,900 c. 3,500<br />
Indonesia 2,400–3,400 1,180-1,557 c. 350<br />
Lao PDR (Laos) 500-1,000 781-1,202 1,100-1,350<br />
Malaysia 2,100–3,100 2,351-3,066 few<br />
Myanmar 4,000-5,000 4,000-5,300 >5,000<br />
Nepal 100-125 100-170 c. 170<br />
Sri Lanka 2,500-4,000 2,100-3,000 200-250<br />
Thailand 2,500–3,200 3,000-3,700 3,500-4,000<br />
Vietnam 70-150 76-94 c. 165<br />
TOTAL 41,410-52,345 38,535-52,566 14,535-15,300 3<br />
1. From Sukumar, R. 2003. The Living Elephants: Evolutionary Ecology, Behavior, and Conservation. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.<br />
Reprinted in both Blake, S. and S. Hedges. 2004. Sinking the flagship: the case of forest elephants in Asia and Africa. Conservation<br />
Biology 18:1192-1202; and in the IUCN Red List currently (i.e. 2011). These figures are also reprinted in Status of elephant populations,<br />
levels of illegal killing and the trade in ivory: A Report to the Standing Committee of CITES. SC61 Doc. 44.2 (Rev. 1) Annex 1, p. 7. Available<br />
at http://www.cites.org/eng/com/sc/61/E61-44-02-A1.pdf. Note: In the latter document the number given for Cambodia is 250-600, rather<br />
than 250-400.<br />
2. See http://www.eleaid.com/index.php?page=asianelephantdistribution. Eleaid indicates that these figures come from the IUCN/SSC Asian<br />
Elephant Specialist Group in 2004, and notes that “the veracity of these figures is questionable.”<br />
3. An additional 1,000 Asian elephants are found in zoos in non-range states around the world. See http://www.eleaid.com/index.php?page=<br />
asianelephantdistribution.<br />
89<br />
© IFAW/R. Marsland/Samburu National Reserve, Kenya
Change language