African Elephants
Why WCS?
28 percent
WCS sites and landscapes cover 28% of the African forest elephant population.
14 percent
WCS sites and landscapes cover 14% of the African savannah elephant population.
On Our Strategies
Protect Elephants and Their Habitat
We support rangers and help government agencies better manage rangers' patrols using SMART (the Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool). In addition, WCS helps protect elephants at key sites through the use of intelligence networks and aerial surveillance.
Build Capacity in Range States
WCS has helped or is currently helping develop and implement National Elephant Action Plans and Strategies with a number of countries, including Gabon, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Republic of Congo, Tanzania, and Uganda.
In Action
For decades, WCS has helped to strengthen and secure elephant strongholds throughout the Congo Basin. In areas where WCS has supported ranger patrols with our SMART program, elephants are seven times more abundant when compared to unpatrolled forest areas. While elephants in many parts of Africa continue to be slaughtered by well-armed, criminal gangs of ivory poachers, elephant populations in the Republic of Congo are stable in all areas managed by WCS.
12 countries
WCS works in 12 of the 37 African elephant range states.
Monitor Elephant Numbers
For African savannah elephants, WCS is a key partner in the Great Elephant Census, a Paul G. Allen Project, leading the counts in 11 countries, including Mozambique, Uganda, and South Sudan.
Related Regions
Related News
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April 15, 2021
Forest Elephants are Now Critically Endangered – Here’s How to Count Them (English and French)
A team of scientists led by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and working closely with experts from the Agence Nationale des Parcs Nationaux du Gabon (ANPN) compared methodologies to count African forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis), which...
Read the story
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April 1, 2021
African Elephants’ Range is Just 17 Percent of What it Could be, Study Finds
A study reported in the journal Current Biology on April 1 has both good news and bad news for the future of African elephants.
Read the story
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March 25, 2021
New Endangered and Critically Endangered status for African elephants
The African savannah elephant and the forest elephant have now been classified as Endangered and Critically Endangered in the IUCN Red List of Threatened SpeciesTM.
Read the story
View All News
Forest Elephants are Now Critically Endangered – Here’s How to Count Them (English and French)
A team of scientists led by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and working closely with experts from the Agence Nationale des Parcs Nationaux du Gabon (ANPN) compared methodologies to count African forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis), which...
Read the storyAfrican Elephants’ Range is Just 17 Percent of What it Could be, Study Finds
A study reported in the journal Current Biology on April 1 has both good news and bad news for the future of African elephants.
Read the storyNew Endangered and Critically Endangered status for African elephants
The African savannah elephant and the forest elephant have now been classified as Endangered and Critically Endangered in the IUCN Red List of Threatened SpeciesTM.
Read the storyWe Stand for Wildlife
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