Do you know that the African Forest Elephant is a Natual Carbon Capture Agent?
10th March 2022
Biologists are now bringing to light an extraordinary process in which Africa's little known forest elephants help fight climate change by contributing significantly to natural carbon caputure as they are central to the health of the rainforest.
A separate species from the African savannah elephant, Africa's little known forest elephants only came to light at the turn of the millennium as they can only be found in the dense rainforests of central African nations which are mostly politically unstable and high on the poverty index.
Foraging for food as they make thier way through the rainforests, the African forest elephant thin out young trees which compete for space, water and light. They step on some, and consume others. The trees left behind, grow taller and larger in all the rain forests which these elephants roam.
Biologists call these trees late succession trees. They store more carbon in their biomass so the forest elephants help to increase the amount of carbon stored by swaying the biological balance in favour of certain types of trees. In short, the African forest elephants are environmental engineers.
African Forest Elephants image from africanconservation.org