Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Tuesday 17 april 2018
Battle to save Africa's elephants is gaining some ground

By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA population has plummet-
MIKUMI NATIONAL PARK, ed from millions in 1900 to
Tanzania (AP) — The el- at least 415,000 today. A
ephant keeled over in the ban on commercial trade
tall grass in Tanzania, where in ivory across international
some of the world's worst borders began in 1990, but
poaching has occurred. many countries continue to
It wasn't killers who target- allow domestic trade.
ed her but conservation Increased demand in Chi-
officials who shot her with na fueled a new wave of
a dart of drugs. Soon she killings. Africa's savanna
was snoring. They slid on elephant population de-
a 26-pound (12-kilogram) clined by 30 percent be-
GPS tracking collar and in- tween 2007 and 2014 to
jected an antidote, bring- about 352,000, according
ing her back to her feet. to one census.
The operation was part of a In Tanzania, the elephant
yearlong effort to track 60 population declined by 60
elephants in and around percent to 43,000 between
Tanzania's Selous Game 2009 and 2014, according
Reserve, widely acknowl- to the government. Much
edged as "ground zero" in In this photo taken Wednesday, March 21, 2018, a herd of elephants form a protective circle of the slaughter occurred
the poaching that has dec- against a perceived threat, just after one was shot with a tranquilizer dart during an operation to in the Selous-Mikumi eco-
imated Africa's elephants. attach GPS tracking collars in Mikumi National Park, Tanzania. system. The killings appear
The Associated Press went Associated Press to have slowed. A count
there to witness how the in Selous-Mikumi last year
battle to save them is gain- a turnaround. Poachers are before we can feel com- ivory is illegal as of this year. added up 23 carcasses,
ing momentum, with killings moving to new areas and fortable about the future," In the U.S., a ban on ivory 20 percent of the num-
declining and some popu- traffickers are adapting, said Chris Thouless of Save apart from items older than ber found four years ear-
lations growing again. Le- aided by corruption. The the Elephants, a group 100 years began in 2016. lier. And African elephant
gal ivory markets are shrink- rate of annual elephant based in Kenya, where If poaching can be brought poaching has declined to
ing worldwide and law losses still exceeds the birth elephant numbers are in- under control in Tanzania, pre-2008 levels after reach-
enforcement has broken rate. And the encroach- creasing. there is hope that the killing ing a peak in 2011, accord-
up some trafficking syndi- ment of human settlements Britain this month an- can be stemmed across Af- ing to the Convention on
cates, experts say. reduces the animals' range. nounced a ban on ivory rica. International Trade in En-
But it's too early to declare "We have a long way to go sales. In China, trade in The continent's elephant dangered Species.q

Archaeologists find silver treasure on German Baltic island

By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER lenburg-West Pomerania Schoen said he and
BERLIN (AP) — Hundreds of state archaeology office 13-year-old Luca Malas-
1,000-year-old silver coins, said Monday. chnitschenko were using
rings, pearls and bracelets "It's the biggest trove of metal detectors on the
linked to the era of Dan- such coins in the southeast- field near Schaprode when
ish King Harald Gormsson ern Baltic region," the state- Luca found a little piece
have been found on the ment said. that he initially thought was
eastern German island of The office said the two am- only aluminum garbage.
Ruegen in the Baltic Sea. ateur archeologists were But when they cleaned
A single silver coin was first asked to keep quiet about it, they understood it was
found in January by two their discovery to give pro- more precious.
amateur archaeologists, fessionals time to plan the Archaeologists said about
one of them a 13-year-old dig and were then invited 100 of the silver coins are
boy, in a field near the vil- to participate in the recov- probably from the reign
lage of Schaprode. The ery. of Harald Gormsson, bet-
In this April 13, 2018 photo medieval jewelry and coins are dis- state archaeology office "This was the (biggest) dis- ter known as "Harald Blue-
played on a table after a medieval silver treasure had been then became involved covery of my life," hob- tooth," who lived in the 10th
found near Schaprode on the northern German island of Rue- and the entire treasure was by archaeologist Rene century and introduced
gen in the Baltic Sea. uncovered by experts over Schoen told the German Christianity to Denmark.
Associated Press
the weekend, the Meck- news agency dpa. He was one of the last Vi-
king kings of what is now
Denmark, northern Germa-
ny, southern Sweden and
parts of Norway.
His nickname came from
the fact he had a dead
tooth that looked bluish,
but it's now best known for
the wireless Bluetooth tech-
nology invented by Swed-
ish telecom company Erics-
son. q