![]() ![]() ![]() In Riau province in central Sumatra, the elephant population had declined by 84% in less than 25 years due to Riau’s rapid deforestation rates. However, by 2008, only 20 of the 44 areas identified in 1985 still contained elephant populations.įrom 12 populations identified in Lampung province in the south of Sumatra in 1985, only three were still present in 2002, with one not considered viable due to too few individuals. By the 1980’s, only approximately 50% of natural forest remained on the island of Sumatra, and a rapid ‘island-wide’ assessment conducted in 1985 found elephants persisting in 44 distinct populations across eight provinces from Aceh in the north to Lampung in the south, with a total population estimated between 2,800 and 4,800 individuals. The species largely populated lowland forest areas, but ranged from coastal areas up to an altitude of 2900m. Up until the 1930’s, the Sumatran elephant inhabited the entire island of Sumatra, with a continuous distribution from the north to the south. Owing to the rate of habitat loss in their last remaining refuges and high levels of conflict with humans, this situation is set to get worse over the next few years, with several sub species predicted to go extinct without radical efforts being made to halt their decline. The number of many remaining wild populations is unknown and therefore in reality, the true figure is probably at the lower end of this current estimate. Today, the Asian elephant now only remains in 13 countries, in highly restricted, human dominated habitats, and population estimates of all 3 subspecies together range between 25,000 to 45,000 individuals. Historically, Asian elephants ranged from west Asia, India, southeast Asia and China. However, in the case of the Asian elephant, the situation is becoming more and more critical. African elephants are present within 37 countries, and population estimates range between 470,000 to 690,000 individuals. Formerly, all Asian elephants had remarkable ranges, and were widely distributed throughout these countries but, due to human pressures, all remaining Asian elephant ranges are now highly fragmented and their movement between areas is restricted. sumatranus found only on the island of Sumatra. The Asian elephant is separated into three subspecies Elephas maximus indicus from mainland Asia (India, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam), E.
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