2008 Woodie Awards
An elephant never forgets... but are we forgetting the elephants?
Amanda Andreen
Issue date: 3/25/08 Section: Features
In a world briefing released by the New York Times on Feb. 28, the Associated Press announced that South Africa's government said it would end a 13-year moratorium on killing elephants beginning in May to reduce the overgrown population of South African elephants in hopes of protecting the ecosystem and impacted wildlife parks. The brief stated that at the turn of the 20th century, there were only 200 elephants in South Africa. Now, there are between 18 and 20 thousand, according to varying sources. All sources agree though, that the number of elephants currently in South Africa is expected to double by the year 2020-merely 12 years from now.
Interestingly enough, there is another population of elephants that is undergoing population problems. However, this population's problem isn't overgrowth, it is extinction. 5,853 miles across the Indian Ocean, in Laos, once heralded for it's numerous herds and once dubbed the "Land of a million elephants," only has what is believed to be 700 Asian elephants left in the wild. In a country lush with forest and vegetation, it's a harsh contrast from the scene in South Africa where natural vegetation is taking a beating feeding the some 20,000 elephants there, that can each eat 5% of their weight a day.
According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, it is estimated that there are only 25,000 wild Asian elephants left and 15,000 captive Asian elephants. A hundred years ago however, Thailand is thought to have had upwards of 100,000 Asian elephants. So why are there so few Asian elephants left in Laos? Thanks to farmers, poachers, loggers, and dam builders (who all use elephants as their labor), it's becoming harder for the endangered elephants to survive the threats and demands of man.
Naturally, the first thought one might have is to just ship some-or in this case thousands-of the South African elephants to the lush and under-populated Laos. However, the two species of elephants are vastly different. And now, through DNA testing, it is believed that there is actually a third species of elephant. The third species comes just from the distinction between the African forest elephants and the African savanna elephants.
Interestingly enough, there is another population of elephants that is undergoing population problems. However, this population's problem isn't overgrowth, it is extinction. 5,853 miles across the Indian Ocean, in Laos, once heralded for it's numerous herds and once dubbed the "Land of a million elephants," only has what is believed to be 700 Asian elephants left in the wild. In a country lush with forest and vegetation, it's a harsh contrast from the scene in South Africa where natural vegetation is taking a beating feeding the some 20,000 elephants there, that can each eat 5% of their weight a day.
According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, it is estimated that there are only 25,000 wild Asian elephants left and 15,000 captive Asian elephants. A hundred years ago however, Thailand is thought to have had upwards of 100,000 Asian elephants. So why are there so few Asian elephants left in Laos? Thanks to farmers, poachers, loggers, and dam builders (who all use elephants as their labor), it's becoming harder for the endangered elephants to survive the threats and demands of man.
Naturally, the first thought one might have is to just ship some-or in this case thousands-of the South African elephants to the lush and under-populated Laos. However, the two species of elephants are vastly different. And now, through DNA testing, it is believed that there is actually a third species of elephant. The third species comes just from the distinction between the African forest elephants and the African savanna elephants.
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