Pygmy elephants threatened by logging, oil palm plantations.

• Author: Mukherjee, Ishani
• Position: EYE ON EARTH

Encroaching plantations and rampant logging are threatening populations of the pygmy elephant, a species unique to the dense tropical forests of Malaysian Borneo. Fewer than 1,500 of the elephants remain in the region, where clearing of forests for oil palm plantations and expanding human settlements is shrinking the animal's traditional feeding and breeding grounds.

Genetically distinct from other Asian elephants, pygmy elephants are smaller in size, with shorter trunks and a rounder appearance. They are restricted in range to the state of Sabah in northeastern Borneo, a 700,000-hectare area that is one of the largest remaining contiguous habitats for elephants in Asia. But Sabah has lost nearly half of its original forest cover over the last four decades, and it continues to face pressure from clearing for industrial agriculture as the government places growing emphasis on palm oil production for biodiesel and other uses.

WWF-Malaysia confirmed the loss of pygmy elephant habitat after conducting Asia's largest project for the satellite tracking of elephants to determine the animal's range requirements. By observing the animals, scientists concluded that high forest diversity is critical for providing the types and amounts of foods necessary to sustain breeding populations of the species. "In one day, the elephant needs to have...