'African elephants' comprised of two long-split species, with different conservation concerns

Mackenzie Hepker, Potluck 4/7/2020

Until recently, it was thought that there were two extant species of elephants: Asian elephants and African elephants. African savannah elephants (Loxidonta africanus) are the 'poster child' species of elephants, and of elephant conservation efforts. Analysis of mitochondrial DNA of two potential subspecies of African elephants that occupy different habitats and exhibit different social behaviors -- forest elephants and savannah elephants -- revealed similar maternal lineages between species. However, whole nuclear genome analysis recently revealed that the two subspecies are, in fact, very different, meriting entirely different species designations. Forest and savannah elephants appear to have split 2.6-5.6 million years ago, around the same time that the African savannah elephant split from Asian elephants, a distinctly different species based on morphology alone.

Forest and savannah elephants -- although they look identical -- occupy very different habitats, evolved under different ecological selective pressures, and today experience different ecological constraints. Conservationists have found that forest elephants are more endangered than savannah elephants. This species distinction may be helpful in conserving forest elephants, such that efforts to conserve 'African elephants' are less biased towards the more well-known savannah species.

https://www.nature.com/articles/news.2010.691