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A recent study revealed a dramatic decline in African elephant populations, highlighting the alarming effects of poaching and habitat loss.
The study assessed the status of savannah and forest elephants across 475 sites in 37 African countries from 1964 to 2016.
Savannah elephants declined by about 70% and forest elephants by 90%, with some populations disappearing entirely.
Conservation efforts have helped some populations increase, particularly in southern Africa (e.g., Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia)
What is Savannah?
Savannah vegetation type that grows under hot, seasonally dry climatic conditions
It is characterized by an open tree canopy (i.e., scattered trees) above a continuous tall grass understory (the vegetation layer between the forest canopy and the ground).
The largest areas of savanna are found in Africa, South America, Australia, India, the Myanmar (Burma)–Thailand region in Asia, and Madagascar.
In general, savannas grow in tropical regions 8° to 20° latitudes from the Equator.
Conditions are warm to hot in all seasons, but significant rainfall occurs for only a few months each year—about October to March in the Southern Hemisphere and April to September in the Northern Hemisphere.
Mean annual precipitation is generally 80 to 150 cm although in some central continental locations it may be as low as 50 cm .
Savannas may be subdivided into three categories—wet, dry, and thornbush—depending on the length of the dry season
In wet savannas the dry season typically lasts 3 to 5 months, in dry savannas 5 to 7 months, and in thornbush savannas it is even longer.
Among Africa's many savanna regions, the Serengeti (or Serengeti Plains) is the most well-known
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