Forest Elephants: Africa's Hidden, Vulnerable Giants

Forest elephants are vanishing in Africa. They need our help to recover.

When most people think of African elephants, it is likely the savanna elephant that first comes to mind.

They account for about 80% of Africa’s elephants and are easy to spot across the open plains. But there’s another elephant that also deserves attention, hidden in some of the most remote parts of Africa. 

The magnificent and Critically Endangered forest elephant is a rarer species that plays a crucial role in shaping Africa’s forest ecosystems, creating food and water sources for other species.

But these important animals are facing immense threats and must be protected.


What Makes Forest Elephants Unique?

At first glance, you might not be able to tell a forest elephant apart from a savanna elephant. Both are massive, intelligent, graceful animals with large ears, gray skin, and long tusks. But upon closer inspection, forest elephants have some key characteristics that distinguish them from their savanna cousins.

Forest elephants (left) have some distinctive features that distinguish them from savanna elephants (right).

Forest elephants have tusks that are straighter, thinner, and tend to point straight down when compared to savanna elephants. Their ears are smaller and more rounded, their shoulders stoop lower than their hindquarters, and their bodies are overall more compact. This smaller frame allows forest elephants to stay lower to the ground, which makes maneuvering through Africa’s tangled forests much easier.


Where do Forest Elephants Live?

Countries With Forest Elephants

Forest elephants dwell in the dense forests of Central Africa and some fragmented habitat in West Africa. Although remaining populations are scattered across the region, they are mostly concentrated in the main central African forest block of Gabon, the Republic of Congo, and Cameroon. The largest remaining population of forest elephants lives in Gabon, whose landmass is covered 88% by forests. But while they favor dense forest, there are some forest elephants living in savannas and some savanna elephants living in forests. 

It can be difficult to find forest elephants among the trees. Most observations are made in wet forest clearings where the elephants congregate and dig for minerals, sometimes in groups as large as 60-70 individuals. Since their diet includes lots of fruit, they are also responsible for the wide distribution of seeds throughout the ecosystem via their dung. They create gaps as they move through forests, knocking down trees and trampling vegetation.

As the architects of the rainforest, forest elephants provide a vital service to all other animals who share their home.

Forest Elephant in Congo, Odzala. ©Scott Ramsay


The Primary Threats to Forest Elephants

Forest elephants have endured rapid population decline, losing more than 86% of their numbers in just over three decades. They live in countries with little to no tourism, deep poverty, and increasing human pressures. They are now classified as Critically Endangered, with threats even seeping into protected areas and parks that were once thought to be safe.

Dwindling Habitats

Forest elephants are losing their tropical habitat as humans expand further into wild spaces.

More and more land has been converted for agricultural purposes and forests have been cleared to make room for more roads. The development of human settlements and unsustainable commercial practices, such as logging and mining, have continued to strip away more of the forests these elephants call home.

Logging operation in Cameroon. ©Chris Thouless

As more habitat is lost, the remaining forest elephant populations become increasingly scattered and separated from each other. Destructive human activities divide the wilderness and limit how many forest corridors are left to connect forest elephants together. This fragmentation creates small islands of forest elephants unable to roam freely.

Forest fire in the Democratic Republic of Congo. ©Chris Thouless

Fragmented range also makes breeding trickier. A study found that forest elephants are one of the slowest reproducing mammals in the world—females only begin reproducing around 23 years old, with an average five and a half years between each birth. This suggests that forest elephant population growth is  three times slower  than that of savanna elephants. By fragmenting forest elephant populations, it becomes much harder for males and females to find each other and mate so that the species can recover.

Human-Elephant Conflict

Widespread habitat loss leads to increased human-elephant conflict as forest elephants venture into newly-claimed human territory.

Without ample natural food sources, elephants often wander across the boundaries of civilization and raid crop fields. This can lead to enmity for elephants among farmers and altercations that may leave both elephants and people injured, even killed. Retaliatory killings of elephants can also result from these clashes. As human populations grow and development spreads, this conflict becomes a greater danger to forest elephants.

Wildlife Crime and the Ivory Trade

As with savanna elephants, poaching is also a major threat to forest elephants.

While improved law enforcement in East and Southern Africa has caused a decline in elephant poaching there, it has likely driven ivory trafficking networks toward Central and West Africa, where forest elephants live. Additionally, because their forest homes can be impenetrable and remote, it is difficult for authorities to protect forest elephants.

Forest elephant numbers have fallen dangerously low. Half of Central Africa’s 100,000 remaining forest elephants live in Gabon, yet between 2004 and 2014, Gabon’s Minkébé National Park lost approximately 80% of its forest elephants to poaching, amounting to over  25,000 elephants . This translates into nearly seven elephants killed every day for a decade.

Ivory seized from Ivory Coast by Hong Kong Customs. ©Alex Hofford / IFAW


Fighting for the Forest Elephant's Future

Despite the dangers surrounding forest elephants, we have the ability to save them.

The  Elephant Crisis Fund  (ECF) has been protecting forest elephants since its inception by supporting the work of conservationists and law enforcement around the world who combat their biggest threats, such as habitat loss and fragmentation, human-elephant conflict, and the ivory trade.

Promoting human-elephant coexistence is a significant part of the ECF’s strategy to protect forest elephants.

Some forest elephant populations can recover if major efforts are made to understand their status, threats, and effective protection measures.

As their habitat shrinks, elephant territory increasingly intersects with human spaces, often causing conflict. The ECF funds projects aimed at reducing this conflict so that humans living near forest elephants begin to see them as a treasure, not a burden.

The ECF supports anti-poaching efforts in the protected areas where forest elephants live.

ECF grants support ranger salaries, equipment, and infrastructure so they can safeguard and maintain forest elephant strongholds. Anti-poaching efforts have been made more effective with monitoring operations that utilize GPS radio collars to track individual elephants, so that their whereabouts are known at all times. This also helps direct ranger patrols more accurately for rapid responses to poaching threats.

Projects that bolster the ability for authorities to gather and coordinate intelligence on wildlife crime are also supported by the ECF.

The ECF supports partners that are trying to establish strong management to deter external threats.

These measures help law enforcement within forest elephant range countries tackle poachers and ivory traffickers at the regional level. This leads to improved arrest, prosecution, and conviction rates for wildlife criminals and disrupts the flow of ivory to illegal markets abroad.

Poachers Turn Wildlife Defenders in the DRC

In the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Lomami National Park, the ECF’s work with the  Frankfurt Zoological Society  (FZS) has helped protect over 700 forest elephants from poachers. This includes traditional anti-poaching methods, as well as a recent, novel approach aimed at reforming poachers into becoming elephant protectors.

They facilitated the  surrender and reform of two notorious poachers in the area , who, along with their gang of 40 men, turned in their weapons to authorities and have now committed to becoming a part of the park’s guard force. This was followed by another poaching gang also surrendering to authorities. These former poachers are now providing FZS and law enforcement with vital information on poaching routes and infrastructure, while also contributing to the park’s security.

Ranger’s band dances and sings towards Saio where they surrendered. ©Robert Abani / Frankfurt Zoological Society

The ECF covers the cost of this rehabilitation and hopes that other poachers join the reform program and give up their criminal activity against forest elephants in favor of a better, legal livelihood.


Forest elephants are singular giants that shape Africa’s rainforests, yet even these great animals are in serious need of help.

To save these elephants, we must all unite in support of the groups that work tirelessly to address the major threats to their survival. Together, we can ensure that forest elephants have a future where they can again roam safely through the trees on their road to recovery.

You can help create a safer world for forest elephants by spreading the word on social media and donating to the Elephant Crisis Fund this August 12 for #WorldElephantDay. Learn more at  elephantcrisisfund.org/worldelephantday 

Thank you for supporting the  Elephant Crisis Fund , the  Wildlife Conservation Network , and  Save the Elephants . Our 100% model guarantees that every dollar you donate goes directly to elephant conservation.

Forest elephants (left) have some distinctive features that distinguish them from savanna elephants (right).

Countries With Forest Elephants

Forest Elephant in Congo, Odzala. ©Scott Ramsay

Logging operation in Cameroon. ©Chris Thouless

Forest fire in the Democratic Republic of Congo. ©Chris Thouless

Ivory seized from Ivory Coast by Hong Kong Customs. ©Alex Hofford / IFAW

Ranger’s band dances and sings towards Saio where they surrendered. ©Robert Abani / Frankfurt Zoological Society