The Thick Gray Line: Forest Elephants Defend Against Climate Change

This is so sad...

Potentially one million species at risk of extinction, including elephants, rhinos, tigers, orangutans, pangolins, sharks, and amphibians, to name just a few. Massive coral bleaching due to ocean warming and acidification. Massive deforestation and habitat loss, as in the Amazon. Massive plastic garbage patches in the Pacific and Atlantic (Sargasso Sea) oceans. The greed, ignorance, and destructiveness of the human species is almost incomprehensible.

The US can & should be a leader in preserving species & ecosystems around the world. Instead we have the Trump regime doing everything in its power to hasten a global catastrophe.

Let’s introduce elephants to the Amazon!

How do we help?

i dont get why people still hunt them down for tusks. We dont need then anymore. We live in civilization.

Poachers need to be shot. Or worse. Why don't we ever hear of any being caught and prosecuted?

I know it’s a useful material, we need to cut down on ivory trade. 7% is insane and we need to save these poor animals.These poachers have to be stopped. With all the negative effects that humans have on this earth, it’s a simple fix

So how about elephants for the Amazon?

Sobering to see such a limited response (via this comments page) to this tragedy. Trump tweets nonsense and 1000's comment. Here, we have less than two dozen. But perhaps the sparse reaction is of a higher quality. Here's my effort to make a meaningful comment; there is one organization I know of that has created an "Elephant Crisis Fund" intended to put dollars donated for elephant conservation to the best possible use by directing them to an array of respected NGO's for very specific projects. The umbrella organization is the Wildlife Conservation Network. Consider making a donation to the Fund.

Assuming the root of this is in the ivory trade, more must be done to shut it down. Creating an artificial ivory might help, but shaming the cultures that continue consuming it must be done.

I really wish that poachers knew how to read and basically have emotions.

I wish poachers knew how to read and have emotions.

This ring of carbon storage around the world is important to all of us. It is time for first world countries to compensate the inhabitants of the rain forests to preserve them. Paying poachers to become shepards of the forest is a start.

Gabon is one of the least known treasures of the natural world, and Langouie bai a spectacular site where elephants and sitatunga mix freely with lowland gorillas. Only its remoteness protects it. Hopefully it will continue to do so.

Big trees lock up more carbon than smaller trees. The tree is made of that carbon. However, big trees do not each year remove more carbon than the same canopy cover of smaller trees. The relative growth rates depend on many factors of tree age and tree species. Carbon storage is a different question than carbon removal. We don't want to release more carbon now stored of course, but we also want to remove as much as we can of the excess now in our air and water. As trees grow, they store ever more. Small trees becoming bigger trees stores more over time. Trees have a life cycle, as do all living things. An ash tree may last just over 100 years, an oak may last 300, and a few species can last 1,000 or more. But they all do die. Sustainable forestry can be managed to maximize big trees. That does not mean they are never cut. It does not even mean taking less wood from the forest. It means management on a longer cycle. The elephants are part of a natural management system that favors a longer cycle, it manages the forest for trees to get older. It isn't to keep trees forever, just a longer cycle. We can do that. We'd actually get better wood from the forest if we did. We could even get the same amounts of wood. For any given area of closed tree canopy, about the same amount of wood grows no matter the size of the tree. Pulp paper companies manage now for shorter cycles, because they don't get any more pulp from longer cycles, but those stands could lock up more carbon.

Maybe trump’s spawn could refrain from shooting them ? How about gunning down retired circus elephants ? Should be as much fun for the boys , and just as dangerous for these daredevil “sportsmen.”

I would like to see the inside of Don Jr.s trophy room, I bet there is at least one elephant trophy and probably a lion as well. Disgusting

Politics aside it's interesting that the value proposition of the carbon storage service is $43B. As carbon offsets continue to increase how do we ensure these go towards investing in the local economies? If we cannot control the demand for animal products we MUST provide an alternative for the local population who, sadly, turns to poaching to survive.

I find it very perplexing that the symbol of the republican party is an elephant. They share none of the good qualities of this magnificent animal.

Most Republicans, so far, do not understand, or maybe can't understand, or conceptualize ecosystems. And unfortunately this is true regarding many other systems both organic and inorganic. For some reason they fail to connect the dots. And this is why we are in such a precarious situation. Their concept of "knowledge is power" is so limited to the micro as in what is immediately in front of them is going to kill us all, not just the elephants.

Elephants are - literally - the gardeners of Eden. Wherever they live, they fertilize and re-seed the forests and savannahs with the necessary fodder for countless species. They dig for water where there appears to be none, and create watering spots for others that cannot dig and would otherwise perish in the dry season. They walk in, and firm up watering holes with their large padded heavy feet, thereby insuring that those waterholes hold water far longer than they would otherwise. They make paths through the forests that smaller species use, and rely upon. Losing elephants, wherever they live, radically changes the ecosystem for ALL other beings who live there, and not for the better.