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In response to the critical decline in the numbers of African and Asian elephants due to habitat loss and poaching, a geneticist is proposing the creation of a hybrid species that is a cross between one of the existing elephant species and a long-extinct wooly mammoth, to allow them to inhabit a broader range of habitats. Additionally, the researcher is proposing that these new creatures be given further genetic tweaks to offer them other traits, such as smaller tusks to make them less attractive to ivory poachers.
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The atomic bomb testing of the Cold War years may be long over, but it turns out that some unexpected good has come of the radiation they left behind: it may help put the poachers of elephant tusks and rhinoceros horns in jail, and stop this horrific illegal trade. The reason is that faint trace elements from the bomb tests have worked their way up the food chain into the bones, teeth, tusks and hair of animals, including animals whose remains are now illegal to trade. To know whether or not a tusk is illegal, its age must be determined, and measuring their radiation signatures can pinpoint this age of these tusks to within an accuracy of about 4 to 16 months.
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African forest elephants are being poached out of existence. A new study with of largest dataset on forest elephants ever compiled reveals a loss of more than 60% in the past decade, due to slaughtering them for their ivory tusks. The decline is documented throughout forest elephant’s range in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, and Republic of Congo.

Distinct from the African savannah elephant, the African forest elephant is slightly smaller than its better known relative and is considered by many to be a separate species. They play a vital role in maintaining the biodiversity of one of the Earth’s critical carbon sequestering tropical forests.
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