A leading study recently published into the current populations of African Elephants has concluded that more of these creatures are being killed each year than are being born. If this trend continues, the species could be extinct in the wild within the next one-hundred years. Around 35,000 of these animals have been poached each year since 2010, primarily for their ivory tusks, increasingly sought after by the Chinese and South-East Asian traditional medicine markets. To put this in context, the continent has lost 21% of its elephant population between 2010 and 2013.

Annual births only account for 5% of the population, so the outlook is bleak unless new initiatives like drone monitoring are rolled out across many countries. Their situation is exacerbated by the fact that, along with Asian Elephants, they have the longest gestation period of any mammal- up to 670 days at times. The killings often involve the largest breeding males and matriarchs in the herd, decimating the group’s ability to sustain itself in the future.

Despite renewed conservation efforts in South Africa and Botswana, worrying news has emerged from within another of their strongholds, Zambia. A trophy-hunting ban enforced last year has been lifted recently, mainly, according to the Zambian government, because it placed a financial strain on the economy which is heavily reliant on revenue from hunting safaris.