Elephants

An African Elephant in Tanzania

The UK May Implement a Near-Total Ban on Its Ivory Trade

Though the ivory trade was banned internationally in 1990, the UK permits the sale of items crafted before 1947

Every 15 minutes another African elephant falls victim to the ivory trade. This melting life-size ice sculpture in NYC helps draw attention to the dire situation.

Watch as This Life-Size Elephant Ice Sculpture Melts in NYC

The melting mammal was part of Amarula and WildlifeDIRECT’s “Don’t Let Them Disappear” campaign

Watch the Sri Lankan Navy Rescue an Elephant Stranded at Sea

It took 12 hours for a team of navy personnel, divers and wildlife officials to pull the creature back to shore

Any faithful recreation of elephant ivory must be hard, strong and tough—three qualities that are difficult to engineer in any one material.

Appalled by the Illegal Trade in Elephant Ivory, a Biologist Decided to Make His Own

Faking the stuff of elephant tusks could benefit wildlife conservation and engineering—yet many technical hurdles remain

From the tiniest to the most massive of poos, physics predicts we should all spend the same amount of time on the john.

A Grand Unified Theory of Pooping

Why you and an elephant spend the same amount of time on the john

Elephants Can Afford to Be Picky About This Kind of Fruit

A single marula tree can provide up to 1.5 tons of fruit each season--as much as 90,000 fruits

An African elephant in Tanzania.

African Elephants Sleep Just Two Hours Per Day, and Nobody Knows Why

That's less than any other animal on record

An illustration of Topsy from the St. Paul Globe on June 16, 1902.

Topsy the Elephant Was a Victim of Her Captors, Not Thomas Edison

Many believe Edison killed Topsy to prove a point, but some historians argue otherwise

Tusks from an $8 million shipment intercepted in Singapore

There's a New Tool in the Fight Against Elephant Poaching

An American biologist wields an innovative weapon against the illegal trade in African ivory

China Has Banned the Ivory Trade

By the end of 2017, the world’s largest ivory market will be closed

World’s Largest Herd of Origami Elephants Takes Over the Bronx Zoo

People around the world folded the paper pachyderms to raise awareness of the elephants' plight

Workers from the Kenya Wildlife Service carry elephant tusks from shipping containers full of ivory transported from around the country for a mass anti-poaching demonstration.

Most Ivory for Sale Comes From Recently Killed Elephants—Suggesting Poaching Is Taking Its Toll

Carbon dating finds that almost all trafficked ivory comes from animals killed less than three years before their tusks hit the market

New restrictions will make it harder to sell ivory from African elephants.

The U.S. Just Announced an Unprecedented Ban on African Ivory

Will tighter rules help reduce global demand?

Collector urchins can protect themselves from the sun by covering themselves with bits of algae, coral and other detritus.

Urchin Sunscreen and Other Ways Animals Beat the Burn

Species have come up with a variety of ways to protect themselves from the sun

Horse Poop Helps Unravel the Mystery of Hannibal’s Route Through the Alps

Researchers have found a large deposit of horse manure in the Col de Traversette pass, likely left by the ancient general's army

Giraffes make their way across the Mara River. Whether they’re ambling or galloping, giraffes maintain balance by moving their necks in synchrony with their legs.

What Elephants, Zebras and Lions Do When They Think No One's Watching

The stunning results when a photographer uses remote cameras to capture Africa's great beasts

Elephants in Kenya's Tana River, Morgan's home territory

Epic Journey Brings First Elephant to Somalia in 20 Years

Meet Morgan, whose 3-week trek shows anti-poaching efforts could be working

An African elephant wanders Hlane National Park in Swaziland. Now, 18 of the park's elephants may be airlifted to the United States due to drought.

Drought May Force 18 Elephants Out of Africa

As the driest rainy season in 35 years threatens southern Africa, elephants have become a flashpoint

Ask Smithsonian: Can Elephants Jump?

The question is why would an animal weighing up to 16,000 pounds need to jump?

A forest elephant takes an unintentional selfie in a camera-trap photo snapped in South Sudan.

Rare Forest Elephants Seen for the First Time in South Sudan

A recent camera trap survey also spied a wealth of other species thriving in remote forests despite the young country's civil unrest

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