Forest elephants are Critically Endangered: what the IUCN assessment actually found
In 2021 the IUCN assessed Africa's two elephant species separately for the first time. Forest elephants, down more than 86% in 31 years, were listed as Critically Endangered, and savanna elephants, down at least 60% in 50 years, as Endangered.
Key points
- In March 2021, the IUCN listed the African forest elephant as Critically Endangered and the savanna elephant as Endangered.
- It was the first time the two species had been assessed separately; before, African elephants were treated as one species, listed as Vulnerable.
- Forest elephant numbers fell by more than 86% over 31 years; savanna elephants by at least 60% over 50 years.
- The IUCN also notes places where conservation is working, including well-managed areas in Gabon and the Republic of the Congo.
What happened
For a long time, the world talked about 'the African elephant' as if it were one animal. Genetic evidence changed that view: the smaller forest elephant of Central and West Africa's forests and the larger savanna elephant are separate species, living different lives and facing different pressures.
In 2021, the IUCN - the body behind the Red List of Threatened Species - judged each species on its own for the first time. Because the two were no longer averaged together, the forest elephant's steep fall could no longer be hidden inside a single, milder listing.
Claim by claim
Why this label: Announced by the IUCN on 25 March 2021, following declines from poaching for ivory and loss of habitat.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: The IUCN says the separate assessment followed the emergence of new genetic evidence.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: The headline figures from the IUCN assessments themselves.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: The IUCN presents this as the most recent reliable estimate available at the time of the 2021 assessment - not a fresh count from 2021.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
Why this label: From the IUCN's account of the assessment, which also notes some forest elephant populations have stabilised in well-managed conservation areas in those two countries.
On the ladder: a claim earns Verified from primary evidence, or from two independent sources that do not copy each other.
What we know / what we don't know yet
What we know
- The two species are on different paths, and the forest elephant's decline is the steeper of the two.
- Poaching, which rose sharply from 2008 and peaked in 2011 by the IUCN's account, and habitat conversion are the main pressures named in the assessment.
- Some populations are stable or growing where protection is strong, so the continental picture is not the same everywhere.
What we don't know yet
- A precise, current headcount for forest elephants - dense forest makes them exceptionally hard to count.
- Whether the stabilisation seen in a few well-managed areas can spread faster than losses elsewhere.
Why it matters
Forest elephants spread the seeds of many forest trees and shape the forests they live in. Losing them changes the forest itself. The separate listing matters because it directs money and attention to the species in the deepest trouble, instead of letting its decline hide behind the savanna elephant's larger numbers.
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