Bornean Pygmy Elephant Elephas maximus borneensis
Critically Endangered
Population: fewer than 1,500
Fewer than 1,500 Bornean Pygmy Elephants remain alive in #Borneo, they are critically endangered, as #palmoil #deforestation is out of control. Help them and #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife in the supermarket
Tweet
The Borneo Pygmy Elephant is a diminuitive subspecies of the Asian Elephant. These gentle and compact elephants are critically endangered due mainly to #palmoil deforestation and human persecution, with fewer than 1,500 individual elephants left alive.
Borneo’s elephants are genetically distinct from any South and Southeast Asian population and may have been isolated for over 300,000 years. Destruction across their range for corporate greed is out of control. Help their survival every time you shop and #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife
Elephants in Asia inhabit regions that also have large human populations, growing at a rate of 0.5–1.5% per annum (Cincotta et al. 2000), and this has associated impacts on elephant habitats through deforestation and various developmental pressures (e.g. Miettinen et al. 2011).
The Asian Elephant is one of the last few mega-herbivores (i.e. plant-eating mammals that reach an adult body weight in excess of 1,000 kg) still extant on earth (Owen-Smith, 1988).
Only 1,500 or so of these pachyderms live on Borneo, an island where palm oil production continues to encroach on their habitat.
WWF
The spread of human settlements, plantations, industry, farming, mining and linear infrastructures (roads, railway lines, irrigation canals, power lines, pipelines) have squeezed extant elephant populations into ever-decreasing pockets of forests and have blocked traditional migratory routes (Santiapillai and Jackson 1990; Leimgruberet al. 2003; Sukumar 1989, 2003, 2006; Hedges 2006; Menon et al. 2005, 2017). In the context of such drastic natural habitat modifications, the continued existence of Asian Elephants depends on the retention of core habitats, restoring highly degraded habitats, and establishing and maintaining connectivity between forested habitats (Menon et al. 2005, 2017; Goswami et al. 2014a).
Further Information
How can I help the #Boycott4Wildlife?
Contribute in five ways
1. Join the #Boycott4Wildlife on social media and subscribe to stay in the loop: Share posts from this website to your own network on Twitter, Mastadon, Instagram, Facebook and Youtube using the hashtags #Boycottpalmoil #Boycott4Wildlife.
2. Contribute stories: Academics, conservationists, scientists, indigenous rights advocates and animal rights advocates working to expose the corruption of the palm oil industry or to save animals can contribute stories to the website.
3. Supermarket sleuthing: Next time you’re in the supermarket, take photos of products containing palm oil. Share these to social media along with the hashtags to call out the greenwashing and ecocide of the brands who use palm oil. You can also take photos of palm oil free products and congratulate brands when they go palm oil free.
4. Take to the streets: Get in touch with Palm Oil Detectives to find out more.
5. Donate: Make a one-off or monthly donation to Palm Oil Detectives as a way of saying thank you and to help pay for ongoing running costs of the website and social media campaigns. Donate here
Palm Oil Detectives 