Asian elephants are the largest land mammals on the Asian continent and play a crucial role as keystone species and ecosystem engineers. Distinguished by their smaller ears and domed heads compared to their African counterparts, these gentle giants once roamed across diverse habitats from grasslands to rainforests throughout Asia. However, their population has sharply declined due to habitat loss, fragmentation, and human-elephant conflicts. It's conjunction with World Elephant Day, celebrated annually on the 12th of August, we want to discuss why ensuring their survival is crucial to both people and planet, with Associate Professor Dr Wong Ee Phin, an elephant ecologist and the Principle Investigator from the Management and Ecology of Malaysian Elephants or MEME, which is a research organisation working on developing evidence-based approach to the conservation of Asian elephants in Peninsular Malaysia. 


Image Credit: Shutterstock

Asian elephants are the largest land mammals on the Asian continent and play a crucial role as keystone species and ecosystem engineers. Distinguished by their smaller ears and domed heads compared to their African counterparts, these gentle giants once roamed across diverse habitats from grasslands to rainforests throughout Asia. However, their population has sharply declined due to habitat loss, fragmentation, and human-elephant conflicts. It's conjunction with World Elephant Day, celebrated annually on the 12th of August, we want to discuss why ensuring their survival is crucial to both people and planet, with Associate Professor Dr Wong Ee Phin, an elephant ecologist and the Principle Investigator from the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://www.meme-elephants.org/">Management and Ecology of Malaysian Elephants</a> or MEME, which is a research organisation working on developing evidence-based approach to the conservation of Asian elephants in Peninsular Malaysia.&nbsp; Image Credit: Shutterstock

Climate change, ferocious weather and ‘the haze’ are now part our everyday lives. How are our lifestyles connected to them, and what can we do about it? What does the economy have to do with it? Earth Matters engages with activists and experts to explore our changing relationship with the planet that we only borrow from our children.

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