ELEPHANT FACTS (cont.)

■ Studies have shown that elephants can recognize themselves in a mirror.

■ Elephants have terrific memories. They can recall and find distant watering holes, recognize everyone in their own herd, and recognize humans that they once bonded with, even after the passage of many years.

■ The world’s elephant population has been in decline for centuries. All three elephant species have been deemed endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The African forest elephant is listed as critically endangered.

■ Around 10 million elephants roamed Africa in 1900. That number declined to

1.3 million in 1979, and most recent estimates say the current population on the continent is 415,000. The drop is largely attributed to poachers killing elephants for the illegal ivory trade.

■ Botswana, in southern Africa, has the world’s largest elephant population: 130,000.