Moving Giants: De Beers’ Program To Save 200 Elephants And Their Habitat
September 22, 2020 (0 comments)
Elephants are disappearing across the African continent at a rate of as many as 96 a day, primarily because of ivory poachers after their tusks. But the Venetia Limpopo Nature Reserve (VLNR) in South Africa, location of the first episode of “Moving Giants,” has the opposite problem: a surfeit of elephants is overwhelming the local ecosystem. The 124-square-mile park (about the size of Omaha, Nebraska) has a carrying capacity of between 40 and 60 elephants — and a current population of more than 270 of the enormous creatures. If 200 elephants are not moved off the property, the health of the delicate habitat will collapse, putting both the ecosystem and the survival of the elephants at risk.
