9781422279113

A Killer Problem ILLER ROBLEM

Imagine standing in the middle of Africa 200 years ago. A huge herd of elephants moves across the savanna , visible as far as the eye can see. There are some 26 million of these animals, the largest land mammal in the world, and they rule the continent. Fast forward 100 years and the scene is much different. Only three to five million ele- phants remain. People in Asia, Europe, and America want ivory, and there’s only one way to get it—from elephants slaughtered for their tusks. In another 50 years, their num- bers are down by half again. Today, the popu- lation of African elephants has fallen to only about 350,000. The elephants do not rule the savanna anymore.

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