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World’s smallest elephant in danger of dying out

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23 minutes ago

By Helen Briggs@hbriggsBBC environment correspondent

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The world’s smallest elephant is in danger of dying out as numbers reach just 1,000 in the wild, but there’s hope it can be saved.

The conservation body, the IUCN, which compiles the ‘red list’ tally of threatened species, says the Bornean elephant has lost almost all its habitat to deforestation.

The diminutive elephant, which stands at three feet smaller than its bigger Asian cousins, is found only on the island of Borneo.

It is known for its gentle, playful nature.

Cheryl Cheah/WWF-Malaysia

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.

Baby Borneo elephant

The palm oil industry has boomed in Malaysia and Indonesia, leading to vast deforestation, loss of wildlife and human-wildlife conflict.

The elephants are forced into human areas in search of food, where they may damage crops and face retribution killings.

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