Elephants have close social bonds, which may have led to the evolution of name-like calls.
Michael Pardo
Humans aren’t the only animals that have names for each other − and studying animals that use names can teach researchers more about how human names evolved.
Johann Mader/Shutterstock
It is difficult to distinguish between elephant and mammoth ivory.
A tourist on National Elephant Day in Thailand.
oneclearvision/Getty Images
Even self-proclaimed ethical tourism programs can widen economic gaps and harm communities they claim to protect. Here are a few steps you can take as an ethical tourist.
Nigeria is a hub for ivory trafficking despite its small elephant population.
Emmanuel Osodi/Anadolu/ Getty Images
Forest elephants are endangered in Nigeria. Habitat protection, community awareness campaigns, research and stronger regulations could save them from going extinct.
Elephants communicate underground by generating seismic waves.
Anadolu Agency
Elephants can be viewed as geological engineers that create minor tectonic forces on the substrate they walk on.
‘The Elephant Whisperers’ dramatizes the emotional bond between an orphaned elephant, Raghu, and the couple who care for him.
(Netflix)
A focus on financial compensation for subjects of ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ overshadowed the need to examine storytelling conventions and creative practices in contemporary documentary filmmaking.
Proboscideans and their tooth structures in various forms across 60 million years of evolution.
Illustration by Óscar Sanisidro. Author provided (no reuse)
Groundbreaking study demonstrates how behaviour drives long-term evolution over 20 million years.
Elephants are being forced into confrontations with humans.
Wikimedia Commons
Measures to address tensions between wildlife and humans are critical for Tanzania.
The import of ivory into the UK from five more species, including walruses, has been banned.
Ondrej Prosicky/Shutterstock
Any law that protects threatened wildlife should be welcomed – but a ban alone will not prevent illegal activity.
The African elephant is the world’s largest terrestrial mammal.
Ara Monadjem
Africa’s mammals are a global treasure that must be protected.
Habitat loss has driven Asian elephants, like these foraging at a garbage dump in Sri Lanka, into human areas.
Lakruwan Wanniarachchi/AFP via Getty Images
A new study looks back into history to assess human impacts on the range of Asian elephants and finds sharp decline starting several centuries ago.
One day this fresh elephant dung could be a coprolite helping scientists understand the past.
Silarock/Shutterstock
Studying fossil dung offers another avenue for scientists trying to recreate ancient landscapes.
YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP via Getty Images
The findings suggest that poaching rates are lower where there is strong national governance and levels of local human development are higher.
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If the situation doesn’t change, Africa – indeed, the world – may lose one of its most iconic animal species.
Ivory poaching is threatening regional elephant populations.
MPH Photos/Shutterstock
Japan was one of the world’s largest ivory markets – research explains why the country is no longer a key destination for the product.
The carcass of a Grévy’s zebra, an endangered species which exists only in the northern part of Kenya, where drought is ongoing.
Photo by FREDRIK LERNERYD/AFP via Getty Images
Changing habitat ranges, competition for food and water, and biological effects of climate change all pose threats to wildlife.
Elephants crossing a road in Botswana.
poco_bw / Getty Images
A study of tweets posted in 2019 found that tweets about elephant conservation didn’t align with the actual greatest threats to the animals, creating the risk that funding could be misdirected.
Three soldiers (far right) carry karnyxes, long horns with frightening boar-headed mouths that produce eerie calls during battle.
Prisma/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Since antiquity people have harnessed sound as a weapon, and the practice continues – in new high-tech ways – today.
A giraffe lies dead in the road near Matanaha village on December 9, 2021 in Wajir County, Kenya.
Ed Ram/Getty Images
Many wildlife species face an uncertain future due to recurring, severe drought.
AAP Image/Supplied by Perth Zoo
Vale Tricia: the beloved Asian elephant called Perth Zoo home since 1963. Her death has led to an outpouring of grief in Perth, especially among zookeepers and her fellow elephants.