Comments Off on African Elephants Classed as Two Species, Both Endangered GLAND, Switzerland, March 26, 2021 (ENS) – Poaching for ivory and loss of habitat over the past five decades have taken a grim toll on African elephants. The African forest elephant, Loxodonta cyclotis, is now listed as Critically Endangered and the African savanna elephant, Loxodonta africana, is listed as Endangered on the authoritative Red List of Threatened Species compiled by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, IUCN. Before today’s update, African elephants were treated as a single species, listed as Vulnerable to extinction. This is the first time the two species have been assessed separately for the IUCN Red List, after the emergence of new genetic evidence.