Répartition et statut des grandes espèces de mammifères en Côte d’Ivoire. I. Introduction par H.H. ROTH. II. Les éléphants

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Abstract
Systematic inquiries and local surveys between 1978 and 1980 revealed a permanent presence of elephants in 50 of 163 districts of Ivory Coast from where they penetrate into 15 other adjacent districts during certain times of the year. Occurrence of elephants depends on the local density of the human population and the extent of non-inhabited forest reserves. Savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana oxyotis) rage over .apprx. 23,800 km2 of which 72% have a legal conservation status; forest elephants (L. a. cyclotis) inhabit .apprx. 29,400 km2 of which 73% are legally conserved. The total range of elephants in Ivory Coast has diminished since the beginning of the century by about 83% and comprises today less than 17% of the countries surface. Elephants are disintegrated into 35-40 more or less isolated populations which vary in size from a few individuals to more than a thousand in the Comoe and Tai National Parks, attaining a medium density of 0.1/km2 in the Comoe National Park and 0.4/km2 in the Azagny and in parts of the Tai National Park. The total population of savanna elephants is estimated at 1790 and that of the forest elephants at 3050. Despite total legal protection .apprx. 90 elephants were killed every year in control operations and an estimated minimum of 300 elephants illegally by poachers. Adding natural mortality the annual loss of elephants is estimated at a minimum of 16% of the total population. Subtracting natural recruitment of .apprx. 7% the total elephant population decreases annually by about 10%. Survival of elephants in Ivory Coast depends entirely on improved protection against poaching of the potentially viable populations in the Comoe, Haut Bandama, Tai, Cavally, Okromodou and Mabi-Yaya-Songan-Tamin areas which still comprise more than 2200 Forest elephants and .apprx. 1600 savanna elephants. Such improved protection implies the removal of the major incentive for poaching i.e., a total ban of the ivory trade. This has increased between 1975 and 1980 from 3.5 to more than 46 tons of ivory imported for local carving, the price of ivory increasing simultaneously.

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