Elephant populations rise in China as they near extinction in Ethiopia

China’s wild Asian elephant population has grown from roughly 150 in the 1980s to close to 400 today, driven by decades of habitat protection in Yunnan’s Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture and Pu’er city. Conservation monitoring shows most herds are regularly welcoming new calves.

In contrast, Ethiopia’s Babile Elephant Sanctuary in the eastern highlands has seen its elephant numbers fall from about 600 in the 1970s to between 200 and 300 now. Illegal settlements, livestock, and agricultural conversion have erased roughly 82 % of the sanctuary’s natural habitat, and poaching has driven a 60 % decline over five decades, putting the remaining herd on the brink of local extinction.