Forest Elephants
Forest elephants play an important role in the maintenance of forest dynamics. They are often described as the 'engineers' of the forest, and they physically transform the forest as they move through it, contributing to the ecological functioning of the forest. They create light gaps by knocking down trees, they keep the undergrowth clear by trampling vegetation and speed decomposition by shattering rotting logs. They disperse seeds and fertilize the soil with their dung, compact it with their feet, and cultivate it with their tusks. By digging for essential minerals changes stream flow, creating wet forest clearings, known locally as "bais".
However, during the 1980s elephant populations were hit by illegal poaching on a massive scale. Poaching was fuelled by the demand for ivory, and led to large reductions in elephant numbers across Africa - estimates suggest that the population declined by up to 80% in Eastern Africa, and by two-thirds over 30 years in Zaire. The ivory ban in 1989 resulted in a reduction in demand, a crash in the price of raw ivory, and a decline in elephant poaching and ivory trading. In the late 1990s the ivory trade was partially reopened, with the controlled exploitation of some populations of elephants in Southern Africa permitted. The heavy decline in population size led to the listing of elephants as Endangered by IUCN, and they are Integrally Protected in Congo.