Just 800 generations ago on the islands of Crete, Cyprus or Malta we would have found familiar places filled with the flowers and birds we enjoy today. And yet, bursting through the bushes, there would be one surprise: a pygmy elephant. The 1-meter-tall pygmy is one of many species of elephant that once inhabited every continent except Australia and Antarctica. Today, 20,000-year-old pygmy elephants are taking on new significance. They lived for a short time and shared the planet with modern people. Science professor Adrian Lister warns that the fate of these lost elephants is similar to the alarming future that awaits their close relatives, the African and Asian elephants. “People are more likely to drive all species to extinction on islands than on the mainland,” says Lister. “One of the problems with living elephants is not only that their numbers are constantly declining, but that their populations are very fragmented.”
Today's elephants belong to a 60-million-year-old genus in the order Proboscis - impressive proboscis mammals. Professor Ross McPhee studies elephant extinction. “Most people in my line of work agree that most of these losses were due to human actions, that these animals were hunted intensively by people,” he says. But it wasn't just Homo Sapiens. Woolly mammoths in distant North America disappeared before people appeared. This month, new research pinpoints the extinction of the woolly mammoth from St. Paul Island, Alaska, to 5,600 years ago. They died of thirst because rising sea levels shrank the island and reduced fresh water supplies. People did not reach St. Paul's Cathedral until 1787. “People who don't like the idea that humans did this want to believe it was climate change,” McPhee says. “Climate change has led not so much to extinction as to population decline. Climate change has kind of beaten the crap out of these elephants.
There are large differences between elephant species, as well as large cultural differences in how they are viewed. There is a long tradition in Asia of taking Asian elephants into captivity and training them. The elephant-headed Hindu god Ganesh removed obstacles. People pray to elephants every day. “It’s very helpful that our grandmothers taught us to revere the elephant,” says Menon. The biggest challenge to Asian elephant conservation? “Earth, nothing more,” says Menon. “India has 1.26 billion people and a large animal that needs moving.” 'A terrible synergy' Environmental scientists have identified 101 "corridors" in India through which elephants move between key habitats where they can feed and breed. Elephants have roamed these routes for generations, but when they are blocked by houses, roads and railways, human-elephant conflict arises. Ultimately, scientists like McPhee and O'Kane say the future of elephants will depend on the number of people as well as elephants.
Bot, make this essay smaller and with two quotes
Pygmy elephants, once found in the islands of Crete, Cyprus, and Malta, shared the planet with modern humans. Science professor Adrian Lister highlights the alarming future that awaits their close relatives, the African and Asian elephants, as human activities continue to fragment their populations. "People are more likely to drive all species to extinction on islands than on the mainland," warns Lister. The extinction of woolly mammoths on St. Paul Island, Alaska, 5600 years ago, was caused by rising sea levels that shrank the island, resulting in water scarcity. Despite debates over whether humans or climate change played a bigger role, these extinctions exemplify the challenges faced by elephant conservation efforts.
Quote 1: "People are more likely to drive all species to extinction on islands than on the mainland." - Adrian Lister
Quote 2: "Climate change has kind of beaten the crap out of these elephants." - Professor Ross McPhee