Ivory

archaeological elephant tusks

Tusks found in 500-year-old shipwreck reveal origins of ancient elephants and impact of the ivory trade

Oxford University study leads cutting-edge scientific and historic analysis of elephant tusks found in shipwrecked cargo. OXFORD, 17 December 2020 – An international team has discovered the origin of the largest cargo of African ivory found from the oldest shipwreck in southern Africa.   The discovery of a 16th-century shipwreck has, with the aid of advanced scientific…

Silent Forests: A rare glimpse inside the forest elephant poaching crisis

Silent Forests: A rare glimpse inside the forest elephant poaching crisis

We are in the midst of an elephant poaching epidemic across the African continent. Fueled by a growing middle class in Asia that is hungry for ivory status symbols, these iconic and intelligent mammals are being slaughtered for their tusks at an alarming rate. While there has been a lot of media focus on savannah…

elephant-census-photo.jpeg

Great Elephant Census Reveals Massive Population Decline in African Savanna Elephants

HONOLULU, Aug. 31, 2016 – The alarming results of the Great Elephant Census (GEC), the first-ever Africa-wide survey of savanna elephants, were announced on Wednesday at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress by Paul G. Allen’s Vulcan Inc.. The census shows a decline of 30 percent in African savanna elephant…

Roger-Gower.jpg

British Pilot’s Murder Highlights Anti-Poaching Issues In Africa

A heinous crime: cowardly, from start to finish. Capt. Roger Gower, 37, a British pilot, was shot dead as he flew a helicopter during a co-ordinated effort with Tanzanian conservationists tracking elephant poachers on 29th January this year. He was flying low whilst investigating the slaughter of three elephants when he was hit. It was…

patrol.jpg

Demise of Elephants and Honeyguide Foundation’s Conservation Efforts in Northern Tanzania

I’ll never forget the first time I saw an elephant in the wild. It was in Kruger National Park, north east of Johannesburg, in 2006. On a tour bus of 14, I was by far the loudest as we trundled round a corner, on sandy terrain and almost ran into it. A magnificent beast, its…

malawi-exposed-ivory.JPG

Malawi: Another Ivory Burn Postponed

The planned destruction of 2.6 tonnes of ivory was blocked yesterday by Tanzanian authorities who argued that the tusks were needed as evidence for prosecution of suspected poachers.    The ivory in question had been seized by Malawi Revenue Authority in 2013 from two wildlife traffickers, Patrick and Chauncy Kaunda, and the High Court of…