During the month of May, he was seen at least nine times by air, in addition to numerous ground sightings. He had been killed by a poisonous arrow on May 30th. The poachers mutilated his body, hacking off his face and removing his tusks.
But that would be wrong. The Great Elephant Census, the first pan-African census in forty years, is complete, and the numbers are not good. There is still an illegal trade that drives poaching, but the good news is that many markets are set to shut down.
The United States has a near-total ban on the sale of ivory due to an Executive Order signed by President Obama in These natural behaviors include: Clearing trees in the savannas, which allows the grasslands to flourish into a food source for other herbivores.
Creating pathways to water sources, which are used by both humans and animals, and digging water holes, which are used by other species. Unearthing salt licks, which other species use to access necessary minerals. Transporting and spreading seeds in their dung.
The undigested seeds are dispersed in their dung as they travel ensuring a continual supply of new seeds. Fertilizing the soil with their dung. Providing a food source for other species who forage through elephant dung for nutrients. The dung beetle and baboons are examples.
In , it added approximately 6. These animals are great natural resources and must be preserved for current and future generations of Africans and for the visitors who travel great distances to see these animals in their magnificent homeland.
Protecting animals against pollution and natural hazards. Elephants help maintain forest and savanna ecosystems for other species and are integrally tied to rich biodiversity. Elephants are important ecosystem engineers. They make pathways in dense forested habitat that allow passage for other animals. You can tell the two species apart by their ears. Their trunks have mad skills. Their tusks are actually teeth. Elephants are constantly eating. They communicate through vibrations. Calves can stand within 20 minutes of birth.
The bottom third of each elephant tusk is embedded within the skull of the animal. The only way a tusk can be removed without killing the animal is if the animal sheds the tooth on its own. Many countries lack the infrastructure to enforce poaching regulations. Developing countries often do not have the resources to keep up with careful, often wealthy, poachers who use sophisticated technology and transport to evade authorities.
Elephant tusks do not grow back, but rhino horns do. Normally, both male and female African elephants have tusks, which are really a pair of massive teeth.
Poachers are now slaughtering up to 35, of the estimated , African elephants every year for their tusks. While a staggering Poaching statistics in Africa also show that elephants might have it the worst, as around 35, are killed annually. A wide range of traditional tools used for allegedly hunting the animals and slaughtering them were also recovered during the raid. The seized tools include 32 snares, 65 bows, arrows, 20 spades, 40 axes, 60 sickles and two traps.
There is also the time it takes to get to the location where a potential poacher was spotted during which they may be able to make their kill. But hidden cameras do have their place in the arsenal and can be useful in certain circumstances. Google Earth has provided a wealth of information and discovery for scientists and conservationists scanning the globe from their computer screens.
But it can also be a real-time tool to end poaching. Save the Elephants uses Google Earth along with GPS tracking collars on elephants to monitor the movements of herds, noting not only their location but how quickly they are moving. They can use the almost real-time data to trace if an individual or herd seems to be running from pursuers, as well as if an animal has stopped moving and may have fallen victim to poaching. The team receives alerts on mobile devices when an elephant's movements are unusual, telling them when to pay attention and where to go to investigate.
The nonprofit is not only using Google Earth to track movements and provide help to the animals in the field, but also to provide high-quality data to the public. The Elephants in Peril website uses the Google Maps Engine and Fusion Tables to show the story of elephant populations over time and across the continent, revealing trends and driving mainstream interest for protecting the species. A serious threat to some species doesn't come from being actively hunted down but through passive hunting by snares.
Poachers set snares that snag species like lions, cheetahs, leopards and painted dogs around the neck. This often means a slow and painful death while waiting for the poacher to check traps. The Wildlife Act Fund has an interesting solution — snare-proof collars that call for help. The collars are similar to the wide leather bands of a GPS tracking collar, except thicker and with rows of small metal knobs that will grab the snare and prevent it from choking or cutting into the animals' neck.
The collar then alerts the team that the animal has stopped moving or is separated from the pack, meaning it could be injured or trapped. The team can then locate it to help it, and release it back into the wild. The Rhino Rescue Project uses GPS technology, as well as a brilliant use of dye, to proactively stop poachers by making the horns undesirable in the first place.
The project infuses a bright pink indelible dye into the horn using a high-pressure device. They also insert three GPS microchips into the horn. Not only is the horn undesirable because it is now forever pink, it is also undesirable because it's marked as one with microchips hidden somewhere inside that would take awhile to fish out, probably damaging the horn and decreasing its value in the process.
Conservationists watching the rhino's movements would be able to tell if something strange is going on, and if the horn is moving in an unusual way like at the speed of a get-away jeep or helicopter for a long stretch, for instance.
This pink dye deterrent may not help rhinos hunted by the cover of night with night-vision goggles, since the color wouldn't show up. But it will help deter poachers hunting or scouting for rhinos in the light of day. It's unfortunate that we've gotten to a place where wild rhinos running around with bright pink, microchipped horns is the best protection, but pink is certainly better than extinct.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Use precise geolocation data.
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