2024-01-13 - Beijing, China.
A recent study published in the journal eLife has uncovered new findings on the development of dextrous trunks by indigenous elephants. According to Dr. Shi-Qi Wang, a senior author of the research, the evolution of mandible structure in the ancient Egyptian herbivory Prosecis has been influenced by multiple eco-adaptations. The paper, published in eLife on November 28, 2023, explores the possible co-evolution of the mandible and nose in early elephantiforms.
2016-12-13 - Beijing, China.
China is set to announce when it will close its legal ivory carving factories, 18 months after pledging to act. Last year, the world’s largest market for both legal and illegal ivory said it would shut down commercial sales within the country. But did not set a timeline. At the time, conservationists described the announcement as the “single greatest measure†in the fight to save elephants from poaching. Wildlife advocates have since urged Beijing to get on with the job.
2016-11-01 - Beijing, China.
A man was sentenced to four years in prison and fined 40,000 yuan ($5,903) on Tuesday for smuggling ivory, a Beijing court announced. Beijing No 4 Intermediate People´s Court sentenced the man, surnamed Liu, on Tuesday morning, saying that he was found smuggling 52 products made of ivory in his suitcase at Terminal 3 of Beijing Capital International Airport in June 2014. The value of the ivory was more than 423,800 yuan, the court said.
2013-12-05 - Beijing, China.
Despite being the largest market for illegal ivory, China has agreed to label the trade of elephant ivory as a serious crime along with 30 other countries at a summit in Botswana. The deal is proposing a cooperative, multi-national effort to prevent the killing of thousands of elephants, caused by the lucrative ivory trade, in which China buys 70% of the world´s illegal ivory.
2013-12-02 - Beijing, China.
The CITES office in China has released details of a number of cases involving ivory importing and trading. In the most recent case 8 people accused of illegal ivory trading received prison sentences of between 3 and 15 years. The recent case involved the import of 3.6 tonnes of ivory between 2010 and 2012.
2013-11-13 - Beijing, China.
Meng Xianlin, deputy director of China´s Endangered Species Import and Export Management Office said that China, which has been making prestigious products from elephant ivory for almost 5,000 years, has taken most stringent regulatory measures on ivory trade. China does not ban domestic ivory trade, but it sets a ceiling for the amount of legal market consumption at five tonnes each year.
2013-01-13 - Beijing, China.
They say that the 4 elephants arrived at the end of November 2012. Two went to Taiyuan Zoo, one of which has subsequently died. The other two reportedly went to Xinjiang Tianshan Safari Park. There are apparently still another 14 elephants waiting to be exported and we have to try and stop this from happening
2012-03-03 - Beijing, China.
Armed with tips from animal welfare activists, I recently went on an ivory hunt with my Chinese assistant, Yang, in an antiques market in Beijing. Activists say China´s growing purchasing power is driving global demand for products from vulnerable animals, everything from elephant ivory to rhino horn.
2011-02-10 - Beijing, China.
CHINA is driving demand for smuggled ivory from Africa, leading to a surge in the killing of endangered elephants. An international ivory trafficking operation saw a Beijing-based smuggler offering undercover reporters three pairs of recently-arrived tusks with a price tag of $64,000. Asked if he could supply more, he replied, "Don´t worry about that. If we can do a deal today, then next time I have some good ivory, I´ll call you." He said his uncle works in West Africa and uses cont...
2008-10-26 - Beijing, China. Dinah Gardner
There are fewer than 300 wild elephants left in China, so when Jeremy McGill, an American tourist, stumbled across a group of adults earlier this year in a nature reserve in Yunnan province, near the border with Laos, he whipped out his camera and started taking pictures. It almost cost him his life.´"I was alone when I came across the four elephants," he said. "One scooped me up into his mouth and bit me. My body was folded in half, my head between my knees, and then the elephant spat me out a...
2008-08-18 - Beijing, China. Dominique Patton
In a cosy workshop filled with the smell of fresh wood chip, neatly arranged tables and well-worn carving tools, Fang Fu Zhai reminisces about his days working with ivory. “Only the best people were picked to carve ivory. If you were chosen, you had to move out of the main workshop to an area where they kept an eye on the piece. They were afraid of it being stolen.†Mr Fang seldom gets his carver’s hands on ivory nowadays. Since the ban on the global ivory trade almost 20 year...
2008-07-17 - BEIJING, China.
China defended its ivory policy on Thursday after conservationists criticized a U.N. panel's decision to allow the country to import elephant ivory from African government stockpiles. The vote this week by the U.N. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or CITES, qualifies China for a one-time auction because it has dramatically improved its enforcement of ivory rules. But some environmental groups disagreed, saying that China had over a dozen years lost track of 121 tons of iv...
2008-06-05 - Beijing, China.
Paintings by elephants? Yes! And the huge mammals with their powerful trunks and floppy ears have even had a showing of their own, in Beijing. The elephant's trunks are applied as distinctive brushes. It takes a long time to train an elephant in the refinements of high art. Many pachyderms sought inspiration for their works from the upcoming 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. The show is organized by the Thailand-China Friendship Association. The elephant is to Thailand, what the panda is to China, a...
2008-01-28 - Beijing, China.
A wild elephant in southern China attacked an American tourist by tossing him with its trunk, causing the man to suffer from fractured ribs and stomach injuries, an official said Monday. Jeremy Allen McGill, who teaches English in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, was found unconscious by a security guard around dusk Thursday at the "Wild Elephant Valley" nature reserve in the Xishuangbanna region of Yunnan province.
2007-08-30 - Beijing, China.
A once drug-addled elephant fed heroin-laced bananas by illegal traders will soon return to the wild after being weaned off his addiction through methadone and round-the-clock care. Big Brother, a bull elephant that once lived peacefully with his herd near the China-Myanmar border in Yunnan province, was caugh by traders in 2005, the China Daily said on Thursday. To control it so that it could lead the herd to where they wanted, the traders kept feeding it bananas laced with drugs, the paper sai...
2007-06-24 - Beijing, China.
Baby elephant Migara, a gift of friendship from Sri Lanka to China in February this year, celebrated his sixth birthday at the Beijing Zoo Saturday. With a red ribbon on head, the male elephant received birthday wishes from both Chinese and Sri Lanka children, as well as delicious bananas from its raiser. Migara was presented as gift by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse to the Chinese people on Feb. 26 to mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties of the two countries...
2007-02-26 - Beijing, China.
Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa landed in China this morning for a six-day state visit that coincides with the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. The President presented a five-year-old Sri Lankan elephant, Migara, to the Chinese government as a gift to mark the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations. The baby elephant is finding a new home at the Beijing Zoo.
2007-02-25 - Beijing, China.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who left for China last night, will hand over a Pinnawela baby Elephant to China at a ceremony today to mark 50 years of diplomatic ties between Sri Lanka and China. Here the baby elephant, named Migara, which is already at the China Zoo is seen attending a rehearsal yesterday prior to today’s ceremony.
2007-02-16 - Beijing, China. Xinhua
A total of 67.45 kilograms of ivory products was seized from the luggage of a female passenger from the Democratic Republic of Congo at Beijing Capital International Airport on Tuesday. The female passenger, flying from Addis Abba to Beijing, chose to go through the nothing-to-declare lane of the customs upon her arrival in Beijing. She was found to be carrying half-finished mahjong sets, bracelets, necklaces and other ornaments made of ivory when customs officers examined her luggage. Anti-smug...
2006-07-01 - BEIJING, China.
Twenty years ago, Xishuangbanna had only 80 wild elephants compared to some 300 today. Last year three villagers were killed by elephants around nature reserves in Xishuangbanna in the southwest province of Yunnan. Crops belonging to 12,000 families were also destroyed. Wildlife officials are planning "dinner halls" of banana plantations and sugarcane planted several kilometres from villages to entice the animals away, So far, 70 ha (170 acres) have been set aside.
2005-12-13 - Beijing, China. Meera Selva
Across China, new shops are opening for hundreds of thousands to buy items that only a generation ago were beyond their reach. Ivory is one of them. "On a recent visit to China, I found twice as many shops selling ivory products than I saw only a few years ago," said Esmond Martin, a conservationist who has tracked the global ivory trade. Chinese companies are making their mark, building roads in Ethiopia, buying up the Sudan's oil and relaunching Sierra Leone's tourism industry.
2005-07-20 - BEIJING, China.
A recent study predicts that more male Asian elephants in China will be born without tusks because poaching of tusked elephants is reducing the gene pool. Research by Zhang Li, an associate professor of zoology with the college of life sciences at Beijing Normal University, discovered that the gene for tusklessness is spreading among the endangered species in its habitat in Yunnan Province of southwest China, said China Daily.
2005-07-18 - Beijing, China.
More male Asian elephants will be born without tusks because poaching of tusked elephants is reducing the gene pool, Chinese researchers say. The tusk-free gene, which is found in between 2 and 5% percent of male Asian elephants, has increased to between 5 and 10% in elephants in China, says zoology researcher Associate Professor Zhang Li, from Beijing Normal University.
2005-03-16 - Beijing, China. People's Daily Online
A delegation of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) recently completed a visit to China, during which they investigated the protection of Asian Elephants and trade of ivory in China. The delegation came to the conclusion that China had made great efforts at protecting Asian Elephant population and habitats, standardizing the management of ivory processing and trade, severely cracking down on illegal smuggling and trade of ivory etc. and had...
2005-03-07 - BEIJING, China. Xinhuanet
China has taken measures to protect Asian, or Indian, Elephants and their wild habitats in thepast years, which helped stabilize the number of the species in the country. China now has 150 to 250 wild Asian Elephants living in Yunnan Province, the southwest of the country, according to the State Administration of Forestry.
2004-11-01 - Beijing, China. Zhang Guanghua, Voice of America
Chinese officials have been unable to curb its flourishing illegal ivory trade, despite signing the International Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora in 1980, which bans killing elephants for trade purposes. Since 1990, China has held the dubious title of the world’s largest importer of illegal ivory. Their inability to stop importation coincides with a flawed record in domestic wildlife protection.
2004-10-14 - BEIJING, China. Xinhuanet
The Asian elephant is the largest terrestrial mammal in Asia. Although many thousands of domesticated Asian elephants are found in Southeast Asia, this magnificent animal is facing extinction in the wild. China is trying to alleviate the situation by establishing an Asian elephant protection corridor in the south of the country, along its border with Laos.
2024-07-10 - Dublin, Ireland.
Dublin Zoo has confirmed that a third elephant has tested positive for a virus which has left two other elephants dead over the last ten days. Eight-year-old Avani and seven-year-old Zinda died from E...
2024-06-18 - Houston, United States. Houston Zoo
Tess, a 40-year-old Asian elephant at Houston Zoo, has been given the first-ever dose of an mRNA vaccine created by virologists at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) to prevent the deadly elephant endot...
2024-04-26 - Blackpool, United Kingdom.
The latest round of pregnancy tests at Blackpool Zoo has revealed that two of its elephants are expecting babies. Mother and daughter Noorjahan and Esha are both pregnant and due to give birth in late...
2024-04-02 - Sen Monorom, Cambodia.
There was sad news from Mondulkiri Province, with the death of 2 year old elephant “Chi Pich” being announced. Sources from the Elephant Livelihood Initiative Environment Organization (ELIE) said ...
2024-03-26 - Kochi, India.
Popular tusker Mangalamkunnu Ayyappan, 55, 55, died at Mangalamkunnu in Palakkad on Monday. The elephant owned by M A Haridasan had been under treatment for the past few months.
2024-03-23 - Kegalle, Sri Lanka.
The 76th elephant calf was born at the Rambukkana Pinnawala Elephant Orphanage on March 20.This baby elephant was born to 32-year-old she-elephant Shanthi and 19-year-old Pandu at the Pinnawala Elepha...
2024-03-23 - Pretoria, South Africa.
In the ongoing efforts to curb poaching and snaring of animals within the Zimbabwe and Mozambique borders, South African National Parks (SANParks) is working to create more partnerships with neighbour...
2024-03-15 - , United States.
After weeks of voting and thousands of submissions, the Toledo Zoo has officially chosen the name of their precious baby elephant and we're personally thrilled about the news! Ladies and gentleman, Ki...
2024-03-09 - Tucson, United States.
A baby elephant was born at Reid Park Zoo. The zoo said Semba, the facility’s African elephant matriarch, gave birth to a 265-pound calf around 3:31 a.m. Friday, March 8. Reid Park Zoo said the calf...
2024-03-04 - Copenhagen, Denmark.
A female baby elephant in Copenhagen Zoo has been named Chin after the Tha Chin river in central Thailand. The elephant was born last week in the Danish zoo. The zookeepers, who take care of the young...
2024-02-29 - Alappuzha, India.
Evoor Kannan, the elephant known for his murderous rage and with a history of killing two mahouts is in a bad mood these days. He had been gentle under the care of his former Mahout Sharath Parippally...
2024-02-20 - Hilvarenbeek, Netherlands.
African elephant Punda has become the mother of a healthy elephant calf after a 22-month pregnancy. This is the third calf born in the Safari Park Beekse Bergen k in four months. Never before have thr...
2024-02-15 - Pittsburgh, United States.
The zoo said Tsuni died Thursday after a sudden, brief battle with elephant endotheliotropic herpesvirus (EEHV). Her EEHV was detected through routine blood testing on Feb. 8, even though she presente...
2024-02-15 - Seoul, South Korea.
The oldest female elephant in South Korea passed away Tuesday at a zoo in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, at the age of 59, zoo officials said Thursday. The female elephant, named Sakura, had suffered fr...
2024-01-30 - Bangalore, India.
The Bannerghatta Biological Park is brimming with excitement as it welcomes a delightful new addition—a baby boy elephant calf. This adorable arrival brings the elephant count in the Bannerghatta zo...
2024-01-27 - Guruvayur, India.
Elephant Kannan, of the Guruvayur Devaswom Elephant Camp, a nine-time winner of the festival-related elephant race, has passed away. His demise was around 5:30 pm on Saturday. The tusker's age at the ...
2024-01-27 - Koh Nhek, Cambodia.
Villagers found a baby elephant dead in Koh Nhek district, Mondulkiri province in the middle of the forest on January 26, 2024, suspected of being shot. Mondulkiri Provincial department of environm...
A recent study published in the journal eLife has uncovered new findings on the development of dextrous trunks by indigenous elephants. According to Dr. Shi-Qi Wang, a senior author of the research, t...
2024-01-13 - Pekanbaru, Indonesia.
The Tesso Nilo National Park in Pelalawan District, Riau Province, again lost one of its Sumatran elephants (Elephas maximus sumatranus) after a poacher allegedly killed it for its tusks. The 46-year...
2024-01-11 - New York, United States.
In a narrow but sprawling curatorial space at the uptown museum, The Secret World of Elephants, now opened, tells the story of elephant species and their relatives through life-size models, videos, gr...
