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🐘Icons & legends

African bush elephant · The atlas type is the bush elephant -- an ecosystem engineer whose ivory ban (1989) and split from forest elephants still structure African conservation.

Icons here are not a ranking of living animals as best. They are the Wikipedia-titled faces a later chapter can attach images to.

Stats are relative 0-100 marks inside this type, for comparison on the page, not a global scoreboard.

Podium

🥈
Cynthia Moss
United States / Kenya
2
African bush elephant
African bush elephant
Africa
1
Iain Douglas-Hamilton
Iain Douglas-Hamilton
UK / Kenya
3

The legends

1
African bush elephant -- African bush elephant Giles Laurent · CC BY-SA 4.0

African bush elephant

Africa · L. africana

Atlas type and savanna engineer.

Story

African bush elephant (L. africana, Africa) is filed here as a dated individual, programme or portrayal -- not as a rank of the living animal.

“Icons teach constraints: law, habitat and methods matter as much as a famous face.”

Public reach
high
Record depth
documented
Conservation weight
material
2

Cynthia Moss

United States / Kenya · Amboseli 1972-

Named matriarch demography.

Story

Cynthia Moss (Amboseli 1972-, United States / Kenya) is filed here as a dated individual, programme or portrayal -- not as a rank of the living animal.

“Icons teach constraints: law, habitat and methods matter as much as a famous face.”

Public reach
high
Record depth
documented
Conservation weight
material
3
Iain Douglas-Hamilton -- African bush elephant Original: Ndovultome ; Derivative work: Nagae Iku · CC BY-SA 4.0

Iain Douglas-Hamilton

UK / Kenya · Save the Elephants

Aerial counts and collars.

Story

Iain Douglas-Hamilton (Save the Elephants, UK / Kenya) is filed here as a dated individual, programme or portrayal -- not as a rank of the living animal.

“Icons teach constraints: law, habitat and methods matter as much as a famous face.”

Public reach
high
Record depth
documented
Conservation weight
material
4
CITES ivory ban -- African bush elephant Unknown via Fleming H. Revell Company · Public domain

CITES ivory ban

International · 1989

Commercial international closure.

Story

CITES ivory ban (1989, International) is filed here as a dated individual, programme or portrayal -- not as a rank of the living animal.

“Icons teach constraints: law, habitat and methods matter as much as a famous face.”

Public reach
notable
Record depth
documented
Conservation weight
material
5
Jumbo -- African bush elephant Unknown author Unknown author · Public domain

Jumbo

Sudan / UK / US · died 1885

Victorian circus elephant that named a size.

Story

Jumbo (died 1885, Sudan / UK / US) is filed here as a dated individual, programme or portrayal -- not as a rank of the living animal.

“Icons teach constraints: law, habitat and methods matter as much as a famous face.”

Public reach
notable
Record depth
documented
Conservation weight
material
6

Joyce Poole

Kenya / US · Elephant Voices

Rumble and musth science.

Story

Joyce Poole (Elephant Voices, Kenya / US) is filed here as a dated individual, programme or portrayal -- not as a rank of the living animal.

“Icons teach constraints: law, habitat and methods matter as much as a famous face.”

Public reach
notable
Record depth
documented
Conservation weight
material
7
Kruger elephant debate -- African bush elephant Nithin bolar k · CC BY-SA 3.0

Kruger elephant debate

South Africa · cull/contraception

Density ethics as a national argument.

Story

Kruger elephant debate (cull/contraception, South Africa) is filed here as a dated individual, programme or portrayal -- not as a rank of the living animal.

“Icons teach constraints: law, habitat and methods matter as much as a famous face.”

Public reach
notable
Record depth
documented
Conservation weight
material
8

Amboseli matriarchs

Kenya · Echo and others

Public named families.

Story

Amboseli matriarchs (Echo and others, Kenya) is filed here as a dated individual, programme or portrayal -- not as a rank of the living animal.

“Icons teach constraints: law, habitat and methods matter as much as a famous face.”

Public reach
notable
Record depth
documented
Conservation weight
material

Stats are relative 0–100 marks within this species, for comparison only.

Comparison Lab

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Debate

Ban purity vs one-off sales

1989 versus 2008 -- whether any legal ivory keeps poaching profitable. The fracture is still live.

Full parks vs empty miombo

Local overabundance arguments (cull, translocate) can ignore a continental EN. Both numbers can be true in different grids.

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