Elephants in Tanzania

Wednesday 4 December 2013

What's an Elephant Worth?


African bull elephant, Tarangire
A lone bull elephant, Tarangire, Tanzania. What's his life worth to a poacher, a hunter, a local community?

Imagine a world without elephants, the giant, majestic architects that shape the African savannah.

I’m not talking about the loss of just another species, something we’ve seemingly become immune to in recent years as each new extinction is catalogued. I’m imagining a loss that will change forever a whole continent — not only how we envisage that continent, not only the ecology of a landscape, but also the very economic and social fabric of many African nations.