African elephant

The African elephant exhibits resilience due to its generalist diet and large population, but is vulnerable to high temperatures, disease, and a critical dependence on fresh water. Climate change is projected to increase heat extremes and create erratic rainfall patterns across sub-Saharan Africa, potentially exacerbating existing threats like poaching and human-elephant conflict. Recommended conservation priorities include securing water sources, maintaining connected habitats, and supporting human adaptation to reduce encroachment.

• African elephants possess certain traits that provide resilience to climate change, such as a large population size (over 500,000), a generalist diet consisting of up to 173 plant species, and the ability to inhabit diverse environments ranging from tropical rain forests to arid deserts.
• The species is highly vulnerable due to its extreme requirement for fresh water (150-300 liters per day), sensitivity to heat stress and sunburn, and a reproductive cycle tied to rainfall peaks, where drought can inhibit conception.
• Climate projections for sub-Saharan Africa indicate high exposure to warming, with more frequent unprecedented heat extremes in summer and erratic rainfall changes, including projected decreases in southern and western Africa.
• Adaptive capacity is limited by a long generation time of 25 years, moderate genetic variation, and increasing habitat fragmentation which restricts dispersal ability.
• Climate stressors on humans may exacerbate existing threats to elephants, including poaching for ivory and meat, habitat loss, and human-elephant conflict over space and water, especially since 70% of the species' range is on unprotected land.

APA

NK, A. (2014). African elephant. WWF International. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/1583/2dxha5r3sx_African_elephant___WWF_wildlife_and_climate_change_series.pdf

Chicago

NK, Advani,. African elephant. WWF International, 2014. https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/1583/2dxha5r3sx_African_elephant___WWF_wildlife_and_climate_change_series.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=NK |first1=Advani, |title=African elephant |publisher=WWF International |date=2014 |url=https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/1583/2dxha5r3sx_African_elephant___WWF_wildlife_and_climate_change_series.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{nk2014african, author = {NK, Advani,}, title = {{African elephant}}, institution = {WWF International}, year = {2014}, url = {https://www.worldwildlife.org/documents/1583/2dxha5r3sx_African_elephant___WWF_wildlife_and_climate_change_series.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }