Monitoring African Elephants in Ghana’s rainforests

The Rainforest Habitat of the Kakum National Park

Most people think of African Elephants (Loxodonta africana) as occurring in eastern and southern Africa, but they also occur in West Africa. Here, populations are under great pressure from habitat destruction and illegal hunting due to expanding human populations.

Ghana is one of the pioneers in the international effort to conserve western African Elephant populations and is now in the forefront of elephant conservation. Another milestone in elephant conservation was recently achieved through a concerted effort of state institutions and NGOs, involving the Ghana Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission in partnership with A Rocha Ghana. This was largely sponsored by MIKE (Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants), which was set up under the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) programme.

In this partnership, the new retrospective dung decay model for estimating elephant numbers was successfully tested in the rainforests of the Kakum Conservation Area, which is one of A Rocha Ghana’s research sites. Direct elephant counts are impractical in these rainforests, and this model is an innovative method which has been tested in only a handful of sites in Africa. It was implemented in Ghana for the first time.

Elephant survey team in Kakum National Park

A Rocha Ghana’s field research team, consisting of a Project Executant and four young biologists, was recruited to conduct the fieldwork. Their mission was to undertake a survey to estimate elephant numbers based on a computed dung density. This was obtained by counting dung heaps along predetermined transects over three months. While walking the transects the team also looked out for illegal activity, such as signs of elephant poaching and hunting traces. As a precursor to the survey, the team had also spent three months tracking and monitoring the rate of decay of as many fresh elephant dung piles as possible, in order to calibrate and improve the retrospective dung decay model.

The results of the survey are currently being analysed and interpreted. If the model for estimating elephant numbers is successfully validated, it is anticipated that MIKE will adopt the methodology as a standard for use in other elephant areas throughout Africa.

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Project leaders: Moses Kofi Sam and Emmanuel Danquah. For further information contact ghana@arocha.org

Partners: CITES MIKE (Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants) Programme, Wildlife Division and Resource Management Support Centre (Forestry Commission of Ghana), African Elephant Specialist Group, European Commission