Population growth concerns of African forest elephants
A scientific paper recently written by Turkalo et al, Slow intrinsic growth rate in forest elephants, indicates that the recovery of African forest elephants, Loxodonta cyclotis, from poaching will require several decades. This species of African elephant has been experiencing continual population declines driven by illegal killing (poaching) and natural habitat range loss. These scientists completed the 1st ever demographic study on African forest elephant populations. Since 2002, it’s estimated that their population has decreased by 62% and that they have lost 30% of their habitat range. Using data collected in Dzanga forest, located in the Central African Republic, scientists found that …show more content…
This article was very official looking and appears to be a popular ecological science output. It was a press release about the original article. Plane focuses on the African forest elephant has one of the worlds slower reproduction rates, and how poaching is effecting these populations. She explains how the forest and savannah African elephant differ in demography (i.e. period of time between offspring birth). Plane exaggerates on how long it would take the current forest elephant population to recover from the poaching; “The findings, published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, indicate it will take almost a century to recover from the poaching they have suffered since 2002” (Plane 2016) versus the approximate 60 year doubling time under current conditions stated in the original scientific journal. By using this exaggeration, I believe the author was trying to get a more compelling story rather than sticking to the underlying science. While not a major point of her article, Plane touches on the importance of the African forest using the phrase “absorbing climate change gases” (Plane 2016) instead of just carbon as stated in the Turkalo et al paper. The topic of “climate change” is fairly controversial in the present, and thus, I believe the addition of this controversial phrase was another attempt to get a more compelling …show more content…
I think the author’s use of a creative title, “Slow and Steady Wins the Race? Or Leads to Extinction?”, is attention grabbing. The blog plays on the common folk-tale of the Tortoise and the Hare, comparing the African forest elephant’s battle with their declining population to the original story. This post was more laid-back and uses Lehman terms much more than the other article, making it easier for people without a science background to understand. The author states that “some critics question the reliability of the mortality rate measured for forest elephants in Turkalo’s Wrege’s and Wittemyer’s study” (Slow and Steady 2016). They continue into an explanation of why the critics could think this. By the author adding this to their piece, I think it brings in the opposing side of the science and makes the post reliable. The rest of the post is consistent with Turkalo et al’s