Poachers kill 100 elephants every day for their tusks.
Recently, Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Obama made a big
annoucement. These two leaders said they were working together to shut down the
ivory trade. Ivory is a substance made from the tusks of elephants. This announcement
was especially important because China and the U.S. are the world’s two biggest
markets for ivory. Ivory is mainly used for decorative items, like jewelry and art objects.
The new announcement means that both countries plan to enforce an almost total ban
on the import and sale of ivory.
Both nations already have laws that retrict ivory. The U.S. banned the sale of new ivory
in 1989, but still allowed hunting trophies and pre-owned or antique ivory into the
country. So despite the ban, a lot of poached ivory still ended up in the U.S., sometimes
disguised to look like old ivory.
Most of the modern ivory trade starts with the poaching, or illegal killing, of elephants
in Africa and Asia. Poachers kill close to 100 elephants every day in western and
southern Africa. In 1979, there were between 1.5 and 3 million elephants living in
Africa. Now, because of poaching and habitat destruction, there might be fewer than
half a million.
Poachers shoot elephants, sometimes from helicopters, just to cut off their tusks. They
then make money selling the tusks to smugglers, who bring them into ports around the
world. Every year, the ivory trade is worth about $17 billion. In recent years, a lot of this
money has gone to criminal gangs and terrorist groups.
The announcement was great news for elephants and animal lovers around the world.
A member of one of the groups that fights for elephants said, “Today’s announcement is
the greatest single step that could be taken to reduce poaching for elephants.”
Elephants are among the world’s
most intelligent animals.
Elephants are the world’s largest land animals. Adults grow to a height of about 12
feet, and can weigh up to eight tons. Elephant mothers are pregnant for nearly two
years before they give birth. Baby elephants weigh more than 200 pounds when
they are born, and stay with their mothers for about 10 years. Elephants are very
social, with several generations of female elephants living together with the males
not too far away. Elephants usually live to be around 65 years old, but often live
longer.
Elephants do not eat meat. They are herbivores, who eat grass and other plants,
berries, and bark that they scrape off trees with their tusks. Their trunks are used
for smelling, breathing, drinking, picking up items, and giving themselves showers
to keep cool. Elephants can also flap their huge ears as a kind of air conditioning.
This action cools off the blood in their ears, which then circulates through their
bodies.
Elephants are extremely intelligent. They have the largest brains among land
animals. They signal their moods with their ears, eyes, and trunks. Elephants
can also communicate with each other by stamping their feet. Their feet can feel
vibrations for many miles. Scientists aren’t exactly sure what elephants say to each
other through the ground, but they think elephants can warn each other of danger,
direct each other to water, or find a mate. Scientists have also written a lot about
how elephants show sadness and grief about other elephants who have died. This
shows that elephants are capable of complicated emotions, just like humans.