Climate change is the biggest threat to the world and living organisms and affects elephant populations more than wildlife trafficking. Reportedly, Kenya’s wildlife is world famous but now due to climate change, the elephant population is under a bigger threat. As Kenya has an extremely warm climate and drought that is threatening the livelihoods of people as well as wildlife.
Kenya has reported 179 deaths of wild elephants in a year due to extreme drought that is affecting parts of Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia. Wildlife trafficking has been a long-time threat to elephant populations and it is alarming how large climate change effects are on these elephants. Kenya is battling its worst drought in four decades caused by poor rains and as a result, its rivers and water pans are continuously drying up, and grasslands shrinking on game reserves. The crisis is killing 20 times more elephants, where much wildlife has fled in recent years in search of water.
Kenya’s Wildlife Board even said that climate change is a major threat to elephant populations than trafficking. Kenya is currently facing an extreme drought throughout the state that is threatening the livelihoods of people and wildlife living in the area. The drought condition is continuously worsening for the wildlife in Africa and largely affecting the populations of elephants, warthogs, and giraffes.
Researchers have found that elephants drink dozens of gallons of water per day and for survival, and they at least need to drink water every two or three days to survive. Kenya’s droughting condition has been destroying the wildlife populations for about the past year when many dead cattle, giraffes, and warthogs were found dead around dried-up watering holes.
Elephants drink water at a man-made water point in Selenkay Conservancy which owns by a community. But after the shutdown linked to Covid-19, they observe a small group of elephants, giraffes, antelopes, or lions on 5,000 hectares, located on the edge of Amboseli National Park, in the south of the country and have a glance at the life of the Masai.
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The African savanna elephant is listed as an “endangered species” and is threatened by trafficking, habitat loss, and weather extremes brought on by climate change. This extreme change occurring in Kenya highlights an ever-growing climate change is a risk to wildlife populations across the world. The warming planet threatens wildlife from the Artic polar bears to the Kenyan elephants who lie on earth to grow and thrive.
The more important thing is that Elephants need wide landscapes for pasturing. Rivers, soil, and grasslands are drying up and resulting created a deadly, barren environment. The researchers said that adult elephants can consume 300 pounds of food and more than 50 gallons of water a day. Global warming is seriously cutting off the daily food that they need to consume.
In September 2021 Uhuru Kenyatta, who is the former Kenyan President, declared a national disaster due to the drought that was sweeping parts of the country. At that time, millions faced food instability, affected livelihoods, and malnutrition.
You know previously, The Kenyan minister also requested financial funding for such conservation programs. Moreover, climate change is a human-animal conflict that faces a big challenge to the conservation or protection the elephants. However, this is not the first time that elephants have died of starvation in Africa. Earlier in 2019, 600 elephants were relocated due to starvation caused by drought in Zimbabwe. The relocation was only called upon when 200 elephants had already died.
Climate change is threatening living organisms. The surface temperatures of the Lut Desert in Iran are speeding to over 150 degrees Fahrenheit more often than anywhere else on earth.
All I can say is the climate is changing day by day, the condition is worsening every day because of the increase in human involvement in nature which resulting all these things happening around us. We need to protect the environment for a better cause.
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