Why are elephants important?
People have tried to quantify in monetary, political, biological and cultural terms the worth and importance of elephants. We can say that elephant contribute to the economies of African countries through tourist revenue, tourism being one of the fastest growing businesses globally. Second, they are a flagship species, in the sense that as a “charismatic mega vertebrate” they are a symbol of the need for conservation of all wildlife and nature. Third, elephants are a keystone species and as such they are an integral part of ecosystems contributing to biodiversity through seed dispersal in the creation of habitat mosaics. Elephant also constitute a substantial part of our cultural and historical heritage and are, quite simply, a pleasure for us to behold. Perhaps most importantly they are important in a way we in our fast moving material world so easily forget – elephants are important in their own right!
