In 1979, there were still 1.3 million African elephants. By 1987, according to statistics of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and National Resources (IUCN), there were only about 760,000 head, a decline of nearly half.
一九七九年，尚存一百三十萬頭的非洲象，在一九八七年經世界自然保育聯盟「非洲大象與犀牛特別小組」統計，已降為七十六萬多隻，幾乎少了一半。