Tatiana Regan | Get to Know the African Elephant

Being someone who loves nature and wildlife, I, Tatiana Regan, always loved traveling to all of the seven continents of our beautiful world, especially in Africa to encounter wildlife and different grand spectacles of nature. The elephant is one of the animals in Africa which I love the most. These majestic creatures roam across much of Africa, but sadly, they remain under severe threats from poaching, loss of habitat, and human-wildlife conflicts. Continue reading to get to know more about the African elephants, which you may help right now.

Among the world's many land animals, African elephants are the largest. They have a long trunk which is an extension of their upper lip and nose to use for communication and handling objects. Compared to Asian elephants, African elephants have two opposing extensions at the end of their trunks. These animals also have tusks – large modified incisors that grow throughout an elephant’s life – which occur in both male and females and are used for fighting, feeding, and marking.

There are two subspecies of the African elephant:

Savannah elephant (Loxodonta africana africana) is the larger between the two which roams grassy plains and woodlands. On the other hand, the forest elephant (Loxodonta africana cyclotis) is smaller and lives in the equatorial forests of central and western Africa.

Despite the ban on international trade in ivory, African elephants still face poaching. Their ivory tusks are what poachers want the most, but their meat and skin are also traded. Thousands of elephants are killed annually because of poaching. Another threat the African elephants are facing is the loss of their natural habitat. Since the human population is ever-increasing in number, more land is being converted which results in the shrinkage of the elephant habitats.

How can we help?

World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is the leading non-governmental organization in wildlife conservation and endangered species. You and I, Tatiana Regan, can donate to WWF to help support their African Elephant Programme.

Reference: http://wwf.panda.org/knowledge_hub/endangered_species/elephants/african_elephants/elephant_programme/