How African forest elephants face unique threats to their welfare and survival, and why they are critically endangered despite living in some of Africa's largest forests.
Forest elephant welfare is inseparable from their conservation crisis. A population reduced by 86% in three decades is a population of survivors carrying individual and collective trauma — disrupted family groups, orphaned young, animals whose social structures have been fragmented by decades of poaching. Individual elephants that have witnessed family members killed show behavioural indicators of chronic stress and reduced reproductive success. The welfare and conservation challenges are inseparable: protecting forest elephants from poaching protects both the population and the welfare of the individual animals within it. Their role as forest engineers also means their welfare supports the health of entire ecosystems.