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Nigeria is one of 37 African countries where elephants are still found in the wild, but their numbers are reducing as human activity encroaches on their natural forest habitat.

Human population growth is pushing into Nigerian forests with logging and agriculture steadily reducing their natural habitat, leading to some elephant populations being lost completely, while others exist only in small, fragmented areas.

Forest elephants are classified as ‘critically endangered’ by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Elephant surveys have, however, not been carried out in southern Nigeria for over a decade, and sightings of forest elephants are rare, so it’s unclear how many elephants there are left.

Eighteen years ago, the African Elephant Study Report estimated that there were just 94 elephants left in the country, but in 2021, it was estimated that there could be about 400 elephants in areas not systematically surveyed. Nobody really knows.

What we do know, however, is that the numbers and ranges of elephants in Nigeria have declined greatly over time.

A more recent study found that land within and around the protected areas had been converted to settlements. It is also used for farming and plantations, making the elephants available food limited. This has resulted in habitat loss and forest fragmentation, restricting the ranges of the elephant populations.

The presence of hunters’ sheds, spent cartridges, traps and hook snares in this area also showed that illegal hunting is rife in all the study locations.  Hunting, as a threat to biodiversity conservation, has already been proven in studies of Kainji National Park, Okomu National Park and the Cross River National Park. Arrests don’t always deter poachers because the punitive measures aren’t heavy enough to deter them from killing these animals.

Human-elephant conflict is also of great concern to conservationists. Elephants raid crops and destroy property in and around the study locations, and with most farmers in the surrounding communities lacking alternative sources of livelihood, this leads to negative attitudes towards conservation.

Farmers are not paid compensation for crop losses arising from elephant raids and the government of Nigeria also has no policy provision for this.

Despite the challenges, elephants are a ‘keystone species’ and have a massive impact on the local ecosystem. Their loss would have a devastating impact on the environment. Economically, they also drive tourism, and culturally they are icons of the African continent.

The study’s authors have now implored the Nigerian government to put in place ‘a species management and monitoring plan’ to help conserve Nigeria’s forest elephant populations. If not, these majestic creatures will soon be lost to future generations of Africans.

[source:theconversation]