What does the future hold for these African elephant calves? Elephant management is definitely complicated and a one-shoe-fits-all approach is not viable and should not even be considered.

On a continent where land transformation is rapidly taking over the last vestiges of wilderness and ivory poaching has reached the point that even the small tusks of calves are being plundered in some places, the future for elephant does not look bright. Where such poaching is rampant, hard enforcement is needed to protect these remaining populations and land must continue to be conserved through the protected areas. The support of rural communities will also be vital and human/elephant conflict must be addressed.

On the other hand, some countries in the southern extent of the elephants range have had successful conservation strategies in place and this has resulted in too large populations of elephants that are now busy destroying the very environment they need to survive. As culling is no longer an option and few places are still available to take new populations of elephant, some careful and hard decision making will be needed to properly manage these elephants into the future.