African elephants
The African Elephant population is in a vulnerable state. These large creatures are diminished due to dehydration, starvation, pollution, and predators.
African elephants are large creatures that require between 200 and 255 liters of water per day to regulate metabolic activities. If an elephant does not meet their needs for water they become dehydrated and frail until they are consumed by death. Watering holes are often affected by droughts and pollution. When human settlements are upstream from the watering hole, collapsing pit latrines and rubbish pits pollute the water.
Elephants herds in Africa frequently encounter human settlements causing conflict between the humans and the elephants. African elephants require up to a few thousand kilometers of habitat as a home range. Human settlement growth has fragmented these vast habitats. This causes elephant populations to be condensed into smaller areas. Elephants have large dietary requirements and when their habitat is condensed, the land becomes overworked and damaged. When their dietary needs are not met, elephants become weak and die from starvation.
As Africa has many natural resources and minerals, it has slowly become exploited and harvested. Currently, mercury emissions are very high and the soil has become contaminated due to atmospheric deposition. Population growth and urbanization due to developments have also contributed immensely to the current pollution in Africa.
Elephants generally do not have predators (animals that eat them) due to their massive size. Newborn elephants are however vulnerable to attacks from lions, tigers, and hyenas. The biggest danger to elephants are humans; elephants have been hunted for their tusks to near extinction in some cases. In just three years, local African poachers have claimed the lives of over 100,000 elephants. The portion of Africa which is hunted the most is the central region, as the concentration of elephants in this area has decreased by 65 percent. China is the location which all the ivory is exported into, the marketplace has claimed millions of tons of ivory all belonging to African elephants.
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