 Asian elephants are classified as endangered by The World Conservation Union (IUCN) and trends indicate the population is declining. An unprecedented rate of critical habitat loss coinciding with increases in human population and development are leading to sharp rises in elephant deaths from human-elephant conflicts, poaching, and retribution killing. Denver Zoo is proactively engaged in research and conservation efforts to protect this rare and magnificent species.
Denver Zoo’s Conservation Biology Department is currently supporting several Asian elephant projects in three countries and is conducting its own research and conservation work in an important collaboration with the Leuser International Foundation (LIF), a leading conservation organization in the region. Our work is focused in the Leuser Ecosystem, which is the primary home for the last remaining population of Sumatran elephants (Elephas maximus sumatranus) in the provinces of North Sumatra and Aceh, Indonesia. The Sumatran elephant is the oldest and most endangered of the Asian elephants and its survival is critical for the persistence and evolution of the global Asian elephant population.
Our collaborative research is the first study of its kind for Asian elephants in the region and results provided the first scientifically robust estimates of the northern Sumatran elephant population. Analyses verified that the population is low and strongly affected by habitat loss and disturbance. Consequently, Denver Zoo is working closely with the LIF to develop an integrated conservation strategy, which includes more effective long-term conservation policies, elephant population and distribution monitoring, mitigating human-elephant conflicts, increasing anti-poaching enforcement, reducing killing of and agricultural invasions by elephants, and supporting comprehensive education and conservation programs in the region.
We would like to acknowledge the contributions of the Indonesian field workers, Ibrahim, Fakhrurradi, Dedy and Samsuar.
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