On this episode of the Mongabay Newscast, repeat guest Leif Cocks joins to discuss recent reporting from Mongabay on the continued destruction of habitat for the critically endangered Sumatran elephant, and the farmers who have banded together in conservation patrol units to reduce the incidence of human-elephant conflict.
He also shares his thoughts on the prospects for survival of the recently described Tapanuli orangutan in the face of a hydroelectric dam project in North Sumatra that’s also been stained by the tragic loss of 16 workers’ lives so far.
Our guest also shares his thoughts on what our treatment of sentient, non-human persons, like elephants, says about humanity in general and how the growing trend of recognizing their personhood changes that.
When he appeared on the Mongabay Explores podcast in January of 2021, he stated that we have only 10 years to stabilize populations of Sumatran elephants. In this episode, he explains how and if survival prospects are changing, what continues to drive elephants toward extinction, and what can be done to increase their odds of survival. He also shares information about the International Elephant Project’s new book detailing the organization’s entire conservation plan for the Sumatran elephant, titled Island Elephants: The Giants of Sumatra by Alexander Moßbrucker, field manager at IEP.
See also:
- ‘Chased from every side’: Sumatran elephants pinned down by forest loss
- Photos: Meet the Indonesians on the front lines of human-elephant conflict in Sumatra
Banner Image: Sumatran elephants play in water. Image by vincentraal via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0).
Mike DiGirolamo is Mongabay’s audience engagement associate. Find him on Twitter @MikeDiGirolamo, Instagram, or TikTok via @midigirolamo.
Transcript
Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors.A transcript has not been created for this podcast.