The Elephant Crisis at Hand... It's Not Good!

[100musicmaniac]

The Elephant Crisis

Poachers are the predators of elephants. The elephant species has been dying down because poachers are killing them so they can cut off their tusks. Poachers want elephant tusks because they are made of ivory which is used for decorative items, fans, false teeth and even dominoes. Without their tusks, elephants cannot hunt for food, much less survive.

Poachers are harvesting elephant tusks and engaging in illegal trade. Before poaching started there were over 1.5 million elephants roaming Africa, but now there are only about 400,000 elephants left. If this continues the elephant species could be wiped out in the next 2 decades! Between 2009 and 2016 the number of elephants in Tanzania alone fell from 109,051 to 42,871. With a strategy devised by Sam Wasser to determine the origins of elephants’ tusks through analyzing their DNA and matching it to their diets, countries are making changes so that elephants can live on.

For example, Vietnam turned over exactly 30 tons of ivory to aid Wasser’s experment! Because of the awareness raised by Wasser most people now know the danger that is confronting the world’s elephants.

So how do we solve this problem? There are several solutions. One of them is what the American biologist, Sam Wasser, did by determining the origins of elephants’ tusks through analyzing their DNA and matching it to their diets. This helped scientists determine where poachers were killing elephants and enables them to track the poachers.

Another solution is one of my own: just use less ivory. Even poaching fewer elephants would help the elephant population become stronger, but ceasing poaching altogether would be best. That way the elephants could reproduce. Then their species wouldn’t become extinct. In my opinion, this is the best way to help because the planet and it’s inhabitants still love elephants and want to preserve them for posterity.

Vocabulary:

F Clamps- A clamp that is formed in an f shape.

Tea Sacks- A small bag with plant material that turns into tea.

Chronically- in a long-lasting or habitual and problematic way

Trafficking- to deal or trade in something illegal

Narcotics- A drug that makes you sleepy and alters one’s brain chemistry often resulting in a lapse of memory, judgement and/or ability to function normally.

[JustRollTheDice]

This made me laugh "without their tusks elephants cannot hunt for their food" they're herbivores, so I'm all for conservation but just going to point out some facts
A) more than one species of elephant
B) in South Africa the population in the Kruger Park is so large they have to cull on average one elephant a day
C) there's anew programme in place where they remove the tusks at birth same applies for rhinoes (think it's more if the root or they surgically removed them when the animals older)

And all truth the elepahnt crisis that is at hand and is minimally spoken about is how they're used and abused in Asia as tourist attractions

[JSmith925]

Yeah, this is one of the many atrocities that characterizes humans as the most ignoble animal on the planet.
I have a solution, shoot poachers on sight. No questions asked.
WTF gives us the right to determine which species should live and which should die for our convenience?
~JSmith

[Curmudgeon]

It is terrible to see such magnificent creatures endangered as a species.

But do understand what poaching is, namely, the *illegal* taking of elephants.

Many have demonized the big-game hunters that take elephants. However, those people take the elephants *legally*, and they pay through the proverbial nose to do it. The money they spend goes to impoverished African nations.

Moreover, if an African nation protects and manages to increase its elephant numbers, then it will periodically "cull" some of them to make money off the sale of the ivory. A poor nation has to have some kind of reward in order to conserve its creatures.

[BaileyisDarcy]

Your information is incredibly off.

Elephant tusks are not for foraging, theyve got more to do with display, and they have almost no natural predators to need to fight off.

Weve hunted elephants down for their tusks so much now that theyre now not being born with them. It used to be that 10% of elephants were born without tusks but thanks to the amount of poaching, that numbers been flipped. Only 10% of elephants are tusked. The rest are born without.

[100musicmaniac]

That's good information, but I wrote this a long time ago in which I found it and decided it is still a pressing situation.

[monkeynutts]

In burma they use elephants as work horses, in the rain forest, mainly the logging industry, the breaking in of the baby elephants it very traumatic for the animals, on the flip side, if humans did not capture the animals and exploit them for their labour, the animal would be extinct because they would use machines to destroy the rainforest.

[villageidiot]

Such a cheery perspective.

[OldSchool_Metalhead]

thank you for writing this. its truly sad and unfair for those poor elephants do go endangered or fully wiped out

[JimRSmith]

There are actually three species of elephants, not just one.

Elephas maximus, the Asian elephant
Loxodonta africana, the African bush elephant
Loxodonta cyclotis, the African forest elephant

[Intraluminal]

Isn't there also a pygmy elephant?

[JimRSmith]

@Intraluminal There is indeed, but it is presently classified as a subspecies of the Asian elephant, rather than a full species in its own right.

[Intraluminal]

Huh. We'll, I suppose that makes sense
The pigmy people are still people.

[HOAAH]

try to not by products with palm oil, because that kills the trees that the elephants need to eat to live.

[villageidiot]

Is that really ur pic?

[Introvert94]

I don't like that humans keep wiping out everything we touch.

[Prettysammie]

I love elephants. I wish someone would just kill all the poachers.

[CT_CD]

savetheelephants.org/.../STE-Logo_Final-01.jpg

[shephardjhon]

Who even uses ivory these days? Is it actually used in any everyday products?

[100musicmaniac]

Well, some use it to display and to create art...

[villageidiot]

Yes, slaughter beautiful animals to the point of extinction for..."art"?

[100musicmaniac]

@villageidiot pretty much...

[Anonymous]

It's sad, even sadder that the world just doesn't care.

[LegateLanius]

We should save all three. #Savetheelephants

[Dchrls78104]

Sad, but we do worse to our own kind.

[WildButterfly]

This is pretty sad #SaveTheElephants

[veronicalynn]

So sad and completely unnecessary

[BOUNTYGUY9]

so very sad l love all animals

[BonnieBunny]

"It's not good! "
No shit

[Salmon4056]

Poor creatures

[Anonymous]

Sad. Poor elephants.

[wondelrand123]

okay!