Elephants

Ivory is displayed before being crushed during a public event in Dongguan, southern China's Guangdong province in January 2014.

World News

Good News For Elephants: China's Price Of Ivory Has Plummeted

4:28pm March 29, 2017

by Merrit Kennedy

Africa's elephants have been poached by the thousands for their tusks. Many of those tusks are then smuggled to China, one of the largest markets for the banned material.

Li Chunke, a carver at the state-owned Beijing Ivory Carving factory, at work in his Beijing workshop.

World News

In China, A Shift Away From Trade In Ivory and Shark Fins

4:41pm January 13, 2017

by Anthony Kuhn

A week after China said it was cracking down on sales of ivory, the national carrier, Air China, said it would no longer allow shark fins to be transported as cargo on its flights.

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Musi, an African elephant, is one of Fresno Chaffee Zoo's five elephants enrolled in the Elephant Welfare Initiative.

Fitness Trackers Aim To Improve The Health And Happiness Of Zoo Elephants

10:08am January 11, 2017

by Kerry Klein

OK, so they're not using Fitbits. But zoos across America are using software to minutely track the activity, behavior and physiology of captive elephants, and using that data to improve zoo life.

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Fifteen tons of elephant tusks are set on fire during an anti-poaching ceremony at Nairobi National Park in Nairobi, Kenya in March 2015. Conservationists say a pledge by China to stop the ivory trade is a possible game-changer in the struggle to curb the

China Says It Will Shut Down Its Ivory Trade in 2017

6:49am January 02, 2017

by Christopher Joyce

After years of negotiation with wildlife conservation groups, China's government has now set a timetable to end its legal ivory trade--March 2017.

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The Great Elephant Census shows that savanna elephant populations in 18 countries declined by 30 percent. Most of the animals counted were in protected areas.

African Elephant Population Declines By 30 Percent

6:28pm August 31, 2016

by Rebecca Hersher

A census of African savanna elephants in 15 countries between 2007 and 2014 found the population decreased by 144,000 animals.

For the last time, elephants were used in a performance by Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus last night. The circus elephants are seen here during a show last month in Washington, D.C.

Ringling Bros. Circus Holds Final Shows Featuring Elephants

11:13am May 02, 2016

by Bill Chappell

In the world of animal rights, one activist compares it to the fall of the Berlin Wall. The original plan called for phasing out elephants' role in the circus by 2018.

A Kenya Wildlife Services ranger stands guard in front illegal stockpiles of burning elephant tusks at the Nairobi National Park on April 30, 2016.

Environment

Up In Flames: Kenya Burns More Than 100 Tons Of Ivory

1:54pm April 30, 2016

by Gregory Warner

Nearly 30 years ago, Kenya burned 12 tons of ivory to try to halt the illegal ivory trade. Today it's burning 100 tons. How much difference does burning ivory make?

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Health & Safety

Dying Tradition: The Men Who Catch Baby Elephants

3:00pm March 28, 2016

by Aisha Down

He has one elephant. He has named her "Shy Woman." And she is not just an elephant he lassoed and captured. She is his companion and confidant.

African forest elephants stampede in the Central African Republic jungle.

To Decode Elephant Conversation, You Must Feel The Jungle Rumble

1:00pm August 20, 2015

by Bill McQuay

The trumpeting roar of an elephant is loud. But scientists living with herds in the forests of central Africa say the deep rumbles that humans can't hear, but can feel, carry crucial messages, too.

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Rangers practice their riding skills at Zakouma National Park in Chad. The park has four mounted ranger teams because horses are the only way to effectively patrol during the wet season, when the elephants head to drier land outside the park.

World News

GPS Trackers In Fake Elephant Tusks Reveal Ivory Smuggling Route

8:12pm August 12, 2015

Some 30,000 African elephants die each year as a result of poaching. Journalist Bryan Christy wanted to see where their tusks were going, so he ordered fake tusks and fitted them with trackers.

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