World’s smallest elephant slides towards extinction
There’s hope the elephant can be saved through conservation work, said Benoit Goossens, a wildlife biologist at Cardiff University and director of the Danau Girang Field Centre in Sabah.
The extinction red list can help raise awareness of the plight of an endangered animal and boost support, he said.
“The message of hope is that there are many organisations in Sabah, including the government, that are working very hard to conserve the elephant.”
The elephants of Borneo have lived on the island for thousands of years, separated from mainland elephants and evolving into a distinct population.
Their main threat is massive deforestation which destroys their habitat and brings them into conflict with humans.
Only an estimated 1,000 individuals now remain in the wild, mostly found in Sabah in Malaysian Borneo.
