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Elephant are not beetles: implications of the ivory trade for the survival of the African elephant

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 April 2009

Joyce H. Poole  and
Jorgen B. Thomsen
Joyce H. Poole
Affiliation:
Amboseli Elephant Project, African Wildlife Foundation, PO Box 48177, Nairobi, Kenya.
Jorgen B. Thomsen
Affiliation:
TRAFFIC (USA), World Wildlife Fund, 1250 Twenty-Fourth Street NW, Washington, DC 20037, USA.
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Abstract

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The scientific community now agrees that, more than anything else, it is the killing of African elephants for the ivory trade that has caused the very dramatic declines in elephant populations witnessed over the past decade. Based on samples of ivory trade data, recent population modelling and field data, the authors discuss the implications of the ivory trade for the future survival of viable populations of African elephants.

Type
Research Article
Information
Oryx , Volume 23 , Issue 4 , October 1989 , pp. 188 - 198
Copyright
Copyright © Fauna and Flora International 1989

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