Courtesy of Google Images (labeled for noncommercial reuse)

Today, Asian elephants are even more endangered than their African counterparts. There used to be 200,000 Asian elephants in the wild but in the blink of an eye, it has dropped to a whopping 35,000 to 40,000! Humans have slaughtered elephants for their ivory tusks and this has become a major threat to them in the 1970s (Glass-Godwin, 2015). Furthermore, this prove to be a concern for Asian elephants as their tusks were perceived to be of a higher quality and thus, increasing its demand (Elephant Poaching, n.d.).

Courtesy of Flickr (labeled for noncommercial reuse)

Over the years, as the prices of ivory soared, poachers started utilising automatic weapons, automobile vehicles and many other advanced technology to aid their process. In countries whereby governments are plagued by war, ivory poaching became a method to pay for more firearms and supplies. Thus, poaching has caused elephants’ social structure to collapse, as they tend to target biggest elephants because of their larger tusks. This would mean that they are attacking the adults, leaving the young ones to survive on their own (Asian Elephant and African Elephant, n.d.).

Additionally, poachers tend to target male Asian elephants and this affects reproduction rate and a decrease in genetic diversity that ensures healthy population. As a result, there is a growing number of male Asian elephants without their tusk as their “tusk” gene is disappearing (Elephant Poaching, n.d.).

Photo taken at the Singapore Zoo [Personal]

Lastly, ivory is high in demand due to its properties – durability and absence of splintering. Ivory’s durability allows it to be easily carved and its absence of splintering makes it suitable for much usage. There have been a plethora of practical tools made out of ivory such as needles and chopsticks (Rosen, 2012).