Survey Methods | Where Are They? | Species Range: Disadvantages

A map of Africa shows the ranges of forest elephants and savanna elephants. The forest elephant ranges are predominantly in central Africa and extend from Sierra Leone in the west on the left-hand side of the map to Uganda on the right, with the largest range extending from Equatorial Guinea and Gabon on the left to the Central African Republic on the right. The savanna elephant ranges are predominantly in central and south Africa and extend from Guinea-Bissau in the west on the left-hand side of the map to Somalia on the right, and extending downward to South Africa. The largest range extends from Angola and Namibia on the left to Zimbabwe on the right.

The forest elephant ranges are concentrated in the central part of the map. Starting on the left-hand side, scattered small ranges appear in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, and Cameroon. Below and to the right of these smaller ranges, larger ranges appear in Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Central African Republic. Three small isolated ranges appear on the rightmost side of the map in Uganda. The largest range extends from Equatorial Guinea and Gabon on the left, through the Republic of the Congo, to the Central African Republic on the right.

The savanna elephant ranges appear generally across the middle of the country, extending from Guinea-Bissau on the left-hand side of the map to Somalia on the right, downward along the east coast to South Africa, and back to the left again through Angola. Starting on the left-hand side, scattered small ranges appear in Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, and the Central African Republic. A larger range covers much of South Sudan. Then to the right of South Sudan there are scattered smaller ranges in Eritrea and Ethiopia. Below South Sudan, several smaller ranges appear in Uganda, Kenya, and the upper part of Tanzania. Two larger ranges cover much of the lower part of Tanzania. Continuing downward along the right-hand side of the map, scattered smaller ranges appear in Malawi, Zimbabwe, Eswatini, and South Africa. Continuing back to the lower left part of the semicircle, scattered ranges appear in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia, Angola, and the Republic of the Congo. The largest range extends from Angola and Namibia on the left, through Botswana, to Zimbabwe on the right.

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Species Range

The time, effort, and authority necessary to collect data on this scale is challenging and is best suited for major, reputable conservation organizations, such as the IUCN. The availability of data on elephants is inconsistent across areas. In some areas, they have been surveyed extensively and with a high degree of confidence, whereas in other areas, no data exists or sources are unreliable. It can also be challenging to determine if elephants are truly absent from an area or present but unobserved, leading to a "false absence" report. The difficulties of observing elephants in some habitats, such as dense forests, can lead to a possible underestimate in elephant range in these areas.

Determining precise range boundaries is difficult because the data is less accurate at the edges of the range. Also, some range boundaries may be somewhat arbitrary, as surveys may stop at natural barriers, such as rivers or mountain ranges, or borders of national parks or countries, and this ignores elephant movement across boundaries.