African elephant species now Endangered and Critically Endangered – IUCN Red List

Header photo: African Elephant – Zimbabwe © Vince O’Sullivan (Flickr)

Gland, Switzerland, 25 March 2021 (IUCN) – Following population declines over several decades due to poaching for ivory and loss of habitat, the African forest elephant is now listed as Critically Endangered and the African savanna elephant as Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™. Before today’s update, African elephants were treated as a single species, listed as Vulnerable; this is the first time the two species have been assessed separately for the IUCN Red List, following the emergence of new genetic evidence.

The IUCN Red List now includes 134,425 species of which 37,480 are threatened with extinction.