Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified timber harvesting areas in Gabon and Congo boast a greater abundance of larger mammals, such as leopards, gorillas, and elephants, than non-FSC forests. Utrecht University researcher Joeri Zwerts and colleagues conclude this based on 1.3 million camera trap images gathered in fourteen commercially exploited forests. The researchers’ analysis reveals the effectiveness […]
Tag: forest elephants
5 Times Elephants Played Dirty!
Elephants have an undeniable charm that makes them irresistibly cute – especially when they’re playing. These magnificent creatures, renowned for their immense size and strength, reveal a remarkably tender side when they frolic and interact with one another. As some of the largest (and most adorable) animals on the planet, it’s no wonder that people […]
Elephants that once threatened Rome could help save their descendants
Approximately 415,000 African elephants live in the wild, according to the WWF. Credit: By Beks on Unsplash. Ivory from an ancient shipwreck off Spain is providing data that might aid conservation of modern elephant populations. More than 2,500 years ago, a Phoenician ship, most likely a trader bringing luxury goods from the eastern Mediterranean and […]
Element Africa: Mines take their toll on nature and communities
ITURI PROVINCE, Democratic Republic of Congo — Civil society groups have condemned what they say is illegal gold mining in Okapi Wildlife Reserve in the Democratic Republic of Congo. For several years, a Chinese-owned company, Kimia Mining, has been operating a concession inside the reserve, irregularly granted by the DRC government. The groups are calling […]
New oil refinery ‘a huge disaster’ for Nigerian forest reserve
IWUOCHANG, Nigeria — It was morning in mid-March and the wooden canoe skimmed silently across the Ibeno River in the southern Nigerian state of Akwa Ibom. A young boy and an elderly man paddled with measured rhythm towards the shore of Iwuochang, where passengers disembarked beside a group of chatting fishers and a pile of […]
Cash-strapped Zimbabwe pushes to be allowed to sell its ivory stockpile
HWANGE, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe’s government recently concluded a conference to attempt to rally international support for the sale of its ivory stockpile. It argues that selling some of the 136 metric tons of elephant ivory and rhino horn that it’s holding — mostly from animals that died of natural causes — could fund its conservation […]
Ivory from at least 150 poached elephants seized in the DRC raid
Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo have seized 2 metric tons of ivory in the city of Lubumbashi, a hub for ivory trafficking. The May 14 seizure is one of the largest in recent years, according to Adams Cassinga, who heads Conserv Congo, an NGO that fights wildlife trafficking and which took part in […]
Deforestation intensifies in northern DRC protected areas
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) contains the bulk of Africa’s humid rainforest. But forests that were once dense, impenetrable and continuous are increasingly fractured by deforestation. New satellite data from the University of Maryland (UMD) show the country – particularly its northern portion – may be in for another rocky year in 2021. […]