Scores of other wildlife have died since February as Kenya battles its worst drought in 40 years. The failure of four consecutive rain seasons has devastated East Africa.

Officials in Nigeria - a hub for illegal wildlife trafficking - have seized a record amount of pangolin scales and claws and elephant tusks as the government attempts to combat the trade, the head of customs said on Wednesday (August 4). The seizure, worth 22 billion naira ($54 million), included 17,134 kg of pangolin scales, 870 kg of elephant tusks and 4.60 kg in pangolin claws, Colonel Hameed Ibrahim Ali, comptroller-general of customs, said in a statement to the press.

A herd of wild elephants in China left home 16 months ago and have been wandering in Yunnan. Three dozen forestry firefighters now have the jumbo task of shepherding the elephants safely home.

Oregon Zoo releases a video showing Asian elephants Samudra, Rose-Tu and Chendra splash around Oregon Zoo’s Elephant Lands pool while enjoying some tasty treats. A record-breaking heatwave has swept across parts of western US and Canada since the weekend, prompting authorities to issue heat warnings and advisories.

Two elephants are led to safety after crossing from Myanmar to Bangladesh, getting stranded on a beach and nearly dying at sea. Dwindling forests straddling southern Bangladesh and western Myanmar are some of the last remaining habitats of endangered Asian elephants.

African elephant populations have decreased dramatically over the past decades, due to the illegal ivory trade and habitat loss, an NGO has said. Conservationists say only 415,000 elephants remain on the continent.

In the past decade, the number of elephants in East Africa has almost halved. But Kenyan authorities say the country's pachyderm population has actually doubled since 1989. Kenya is setting the example in the fight against poaching and now has around 35,000 elephants. Reserves have had to adapt and step up security. But while ivory hunters are no longer such a threat, conservation groups are worried by cohabitation between wild animals and local communities, which can prove difficult. But even here, things are improving. Our correspondents report from Kenya's Laikipia County.

Botswana is selling licenses to hunt 70 elephants in seven district months after President Mokgweetsi Masisi lifted a ban on big game hunting.

A hundred elephants take part in the Surin elephant round-up where mahouts, the elephant handlers, show their skills in battle re-enactments and playing football. Elephants have to endure traumatic and painful training in order to be tamed.

NGOs react to a near-total ban on sending wild elephants to zoos

'Elephants are the perfect model for society'.

Botswana is mulling lifting a ban on big game hunting following recommendations from a government committee. The committee said lifting the ban on hunting animals, such as elephants, would "promote conservationism."