# News

### This is the algorithm that could save elephants from extinction

An algorithm designed by a computer scientist at the University of Bath may be able to help save African elephants from extinction. Coupled with high-resolution imagery, the algorithm enables a satellite to scan large areas of land in short periods of time and collect 5,000 km2 worth of photos, a good fit for the animals' grassland and forest habitats. The tech development is desperately needed as elephant numbers in Africa are estimated to be at just 415,000. The savanna elephant population has reduced by 60 per cent in the last 50 years and the number of forest elephants have fallen by 86 per cent in the previous three decades.Read more

### Elephant population increase in Queen Elizabeth boosts tourism

Mr Emmanuel Basaza is the Director of Rwenzori founders limited, a tour company in Kasese district, Western Uganda. He says he has spent most of his life in the tourism industry and observes that in the last couple of years, the increase in elephant population at Queen Elizabeth National park has boosted the tourism sector. “Several tourists who visit Kasese mainly love to see elephants. The number of tourists had decreased in 2020 due to the Covid-19 outbreak but the business is picking up, including from local tourists,” he says.Read more

### Forest Elephants are Now Critically Endangered – Here’s How to Count Them

A team of scientists led by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and working closely with experts from the Agence Nationale des Parcs Nationaux du Gabon (ANPN) compared methodologies to count African forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis), which were recently acknowledged by IUCN as a separate, Critically Endangered species from African savannah elephants. The study is part of a larger initiative in partnership with Vulcan Inc. to provide the first nationwide census in Gabon for more than 30 years. The results of the census are expected later this year.Read more

### 3D-printed material to replace ivory for restoration of artifacts

For centuries, ivory was often used to make art objects. But to protect elephant populations, the ivory trade was banned internationally in 1989. To restore ivory parts of old art objects, one must therefore resort to substitute materials—such as bones, shells or plastic. However, there has not been a really satisfactory solution so far. TU Wien (Vienna) and the 3D printing company Cubicure GmbH, created as a spin-off of TU Wien, have now developed a high-tech substitute in cooperation with the Archdiocese of Vienna's Department for the Care of Art and Monuments and Addison Restoration: the novel material "Digory" consists of synthetic resin and calcium phosphate particles. It is processed in a hot, liquid state and hardened in the 3D printer with UV rays, exactly in the desired shape. It can then be polished and color-matched to create a deceptively authentic-looking ivory substitute.Read more

### Elephants return to conflict-ridden national park (DRC)

Savanna elephants have returned en masse to Virunga National Park, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It’s a development that has stunned park staff and signaled a turning point in Virunga’s quest for stability in a region beset by violence for decades. In August nearly 600 elephants crossed into Virunga from neighboring Uganda’s Queen Elizabeth National Park. More than six months later, they’re still there, suggesting they feel secure in their new home. “There has been no greater expression of Virunga coming back to life,” says park director Emmanuel de Merode. “I arrived to the Congo 30 years ago, and I’ve never seen anything like this. Read more