CONTINENTAL HERD Wildlife populations across the African continent

CONTINENTAL HERD
Wildlife populations across the African continent
—what AWF calls the “continental herd”—have
dropped, in some cases precipitously, in the past
century.
ELEPHANTS
475K
Elephants remaining in Africa. Elephants
are being poached at a rate of about
25,000 to 35,000 per year.
RHINOS
25K
Number of white and black rhinos. South
Africa, which holds the majority of the
world’s rhinos, lost 13 rhinos to poaching
in 2007—and 1,175 in 2015.
GREAT APES
375K
Africa’s chimpanzee population. There are
four species of great apes in Africa: the
chimpanzee, western gorilla, eastern
gorilla (of which the mountain gorilla is a
subspecies) and the bonobo. All four are
endangered or critically endangered.
CARNIVORES
23K
Lions in Africa. The lion population has
declined by 42 percent in the past 21
years. Recent reports predict it will be
halved yet again in the next 20 years.