Most of the illegal trading of ivory happens in China, India and Thailand. Prices in China tripled between 2010 and 2014, which increased poaching tremendously (World Elephant Day, 2016). While the demand for ivory worldwide is declining, the demand in these countries is still on the rise, which continues to put elephants in danger ("Research Paper - Elephant Poaching," n.d.). Not only are the poachers destroying the population, but elephants have a very low birth rate and a high infant mortality rate. Of the 141 births recorded by European zoos in between 1902 and 1996, 37% died in the first year, 48% were stillborn and 27% were killed by their mothers (Rees, 2003, p. 20). Another reason the elephant species are having a hard time keeping up their population numbers is the fact that there are many more females than males which makes the natural breeding of new life difficult (Wittemyer et al., 2014, p. 13118). Female elephants run in groups of 6 to 12 and when a male elephant is ready to mate he will approach the female and walk with the pack until she accepts him ("Elephant Family Structure," n.d.). Because of this
Most of the illegal trading of ivory happens in China, India and Thailand. Prices in China tripled between 2010 and 2014, which increased poaching tremendously (World Elephant Day, 2016). While the demand for ivory worldwide is declining, the demand in these countries is still on the rise, which continues to put elephants in danger ("Research Paper - Elephant Poaching," n.d.). Not only are the poachers destroying the population, but elephants have a very low birth rate and a high infant mortality rate. Of the 141 births recorded by European zoos in between 1902 and 1996, 37% died in the first year, 48% were stillborn and 27% were killed by their mothers (Rees, 2003, p. 20). Another reason the elephant species are having a hard time keeping up their population numbers is the fact that there are many more females than males which makes the natural breeding of new life difficult (Wittemyer et al., 2014, p. 13118). Female elephants run in groups of 6 to 12 and when a male elephant is ready to mate he will approach the female and walk with the pack until she accepts him ("Elephant Family Structure," n.d.). Because of this