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

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

In 2007, the IUCN published the African Elephant Status Report, which included data on the range and population estimates for elephants across Africa. They gathered data from a variety of organizations that monitor local elephant populations. In order to determine the entire elephant range, they gathered evidence of elephant presence or absence in an area, which includes direct observations and indirect signs such as elephant dung and footprints. For each data source, they classified the range information into one of four categories:

Known Range – areas where elephant presence has been confirmed within the past 10 years and the habitat is still suitable for elephants.
Possible Range – areas within the historical elephant range where the habitat is suitable and there is no data to rule out the presence of elephants. This area includes former "known" elephant range where data is more than 10 years old.
Doubtful Range – areas where there is evidence to suggest that elephants are not present, but no rigorous survey data exist to confirm their absence. If an area is extensively surveyed and the absence of elephants is confirmed, the area is reclassified as "non-range."
Non-Range – areas where the absence of elephants has been confirmed, either through extensive surveys or habitat modifications that would make the habitat unsuitable for elephants.

The map shows the "known" and "possible" range combined of elephants across Africa based on this 2007 study.