Population and Conservation

Almost thirty years ago, the Sumatran Elephants occurred in 44 populations in all the Sumatran Provinces with the largest population being centered in the Riau Province. However, by 2008 the population of these elephants showed a drastic declination with recorded local extinction in 23 out of the 43 identified ranges of their habitat. According to a recent survey, out of the earlier large population of Sumatran Elephant in Riau Province only 350 could survive at present time.

Sumatran Island has been considered to have the worst rate of deforestation in the world. The transformation of forests into housing areas, farmlands, palm-oil plantations, mining, and illegal logging sites have severely narrowed down the habitats of Sumatran Elephants. Therefore, the rapidly reducing source of elephants’ food often forces the elephants to enter the nearby human settlement areas, triggering a human-elephant conflict. Besides this, poaching of elephants has further reduced their population.

Over fifty percent of Sumatran Elephants have lost their lives between the years 1985 and 2007. Within this period, more than 69 % of their habitat has been lost due to forest degradation. In fact, several provinces in Sumatra have witnessed the local extinction of these animals within just a single elephant generation. Unfortunately, the driving forces causing this rapid loss of habitat for the elephants are still unchecked and have become more intense in the last decade.

In Aceh, a small population of elephants of around 500 was distributed all across the lowland areas. However, with the increasing rate of deforestation, the instances with large herds of elephants entering and destroying agricultural land and palm-oil plantations have increased tremendously in the last decade. As a result, 36 elephants have been reported to have died by electrocution, poisoning and manmade traps in the last four years. In fact, most of the deaths took place near palm-oil plantations.

Therefore, in 2012, the earlier “Endangered” status of the Sumatran Elephant had to be changed to “Critically Endangered” on the IUCN Red List. Around 2,400 – 2,800 Sumatran Elephants have been estimated to be surviving in about 25 fragmented populations all across the island of Sumatra. Although many laws have been enacted by the Indonesian government for conserving the elephants’ population, with the present rate of poaching and deforestation these animals still might disappear in less than a decade.