Even though there has been an international ban on ivory trading since 1989, the African elephant is closer than ever to extinction. In 1979, ten years before the international ban, the African elephant population was estimated to be around 1.3 million. A decade later, the worldwide population had shriveled to only about 600,000. It is estimated that, of the 700,000 elephants killed in the decade before the international ban was placed on the ivory trade, only about 20% were killed legally.

Since 2013, the annual mortality rates for African elephants has plateaued at about 35,000—in other words, that’s about 96 elephants every day. The mortality rate today is considerably lower than it was in the 1970s and the 1980s—when the annual rate was closer to 70,000—but this number is still shockingly high considering the ivory trade was not banned until the end of the 1980s. The African elephant, which has been classified as an endangered species since the ivory trade ban of 1989, is poised closer to extinction than ever before. Some researchers estimate that, given the current mortality rate, the African elephant could be extinct in fewer than ten years.

My capstone project will encompass both a video mash-up as well as an infographic that will explore the drastic decrease in the African elephant population as a direct result of the ivory trade.

https://twitter.com/ChaikaKatie/status/739900834880724992

https://twitter.com/ChaikaKatie/status/739900464523665408

https://twitter.com/ChaikaKatie/status/739899416853651457

https://twitter.com/ChaikaKatie/status/739898552336293888

https://twitter.com/ChaikaKatie/status/739896568854118400