African Elephants Living in Forests Are Now ‘Critically Endangered

The new assessments by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has put African elephants living in forests in the critically endangered category and the African savanna elephant as Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

• Previously, African elephants were treated as a single species, listed as Vulnerable; this is the first time the two species have been assessed separately for the IUCN Red List, following the emergence of new genetic evidence.

Key Observations

• The Red List shows that the two species of elephants in Africa i.e. African elephants living in forests and savannas, are increasingly threatened with ....