A groundbreaking study released today reveals the alarming state of African elephant populations over the last 50 years. Both forest and savanna elephant species have experienced widespread declines due to overexploitation and habitat loss, mirroring the global trend affecting large-bodied animals.

Take a heaping helping of 1956's "Trapeze", mix in mid-30s Gable/Harlow movies, and add a soupcon of 1955's "Picnic", and you have something much like this new movie starring Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon. Opens wide on April 23.

Washington – A disturbing rate of worker injuries and fatalities involving captive elephants has led People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals to submit a formal petition to OSHA asking for stronger worker protections in the industry.

A groundbreaking study released today reveals the alarming state of African elephant populations over the last 50 years. Both forest and savanna elephant species have experienced widespread declines due to overexploitation and habitat loss, mirroring the global trend affecting large-bodied animals.

Elephants Dream is the world’s first open movie, made entirely with open source graphics software such as Blender.

Many baby boomer roofing contractors intuitively understand they need to plan for the exit but are consumed with the day-to-day grind and procrastinate.

ALT TEXT: The head of a bear, figured in every artist's medium of choice: yellow Playdoh. And looking considerably more apprehensive than the artist intended, although I suppose that makes a change from all the inane grinning. 

The 'head only' approach is by far my patron's least favourite. He loathes it, and any such submission is immediately met with outraged cries of 'Knees! Knees!' However, as I believe Caravaggio used to say to Cardinal Del Monte, "There's only so much Playdoh in the tub."

 First, an apology. It has been brought to my attention that I have been irritatingly coy about the identity of my patron for this series of pieces, and the precise nature of my relationship with him. This is of course information you have every right to know, for reasons too obvious to explain; and which you could not possibly in a million years have guessed. No-one’s that clever-clever. 

So let me now be perfectly straightforward with you: my patron is His Serene Grace Archduke Gustavus Von und zu Schellenhuber, Prince-Elector of Westphalia. I recently had the honour to be appointed his Court Artist (Ursine and Elephantine works only). 

Here is the latest piece I have completed for His Grace. I believe he intends it as a fresco for his refectory.

Three-time Oscar nominee Torill Kove, who won the Academy Award for her short 'The Danish Poet,' is back in the Oscars race this year with a new film about her memories of growing up in Kenya.

As the country’s civil war decimated elephant populations, the proportion of tuskless females rose dramatically. A new study explains why the tuskless trend continued in peacetime.

In this one-minute video, our Ask Smithsonian Host, Eric Schulze, weighs in on whether or not elephants can jump.

Read more about elephants at http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/How-Male-Elephants-Bond.html Keepers and pachyderms alike are enjoying the new Asian elephant exhibit, Elephant Trails, at the National Zoo.

Mary, a 54-year-old Asian elephant at the Berlin Zoo, is the “queen of showering,” but her companion Anchali seems to have figured out how to exploit that habit to play pranks

Asian elephants at Berlin Zoo show impressive skill when using a hose as a tool, and even appear to sabotage each other by stopping the flow of water

Asian elephants at Berlin Zoo show impressive skill when using a hose as a tool, and even appear to sabotage each other by stopping the flow of water

Asian elephants at Berlin Zoo show impressive skill when using a hose as a tool, and even appear to sabotage each other by stopping the flow of water

In the last decade, Africa’s elephant population has declined by around 110,000, primarily due to poaching. The slaughter of African rhinos has also skyrocketed — 1,175 were killed in South Africa in 2015 alone, compared with 13 in 2007. Because poachers operate mostly under the cover of night, this type of crime is hard to tackle. In December 2012, Google awarded WWF a $5 million grant to tackle the poaching crisis through technology, launching the Wildlife Crime Technology Project. They have collaborated with FLIR, a thermal imaging company, to design a new infrared camera capable of detecting human movement at night, and have installed cameras around Kenya's Maasai Mara Conservancy. Since the programme started, local rangers have nabbed over 150 poachers. CONNECT WITH WIRED Web: http://po.st/WiredVideo Twitter: http://po.st/TwitterWired Facebook: http://po.st/FacebookWired Google+: http://po.st/GoogleWired Instagram: http://po.st/InstagramWired Magazine: http://po.st/MagazineWired Newsletter: http://po.st/NewslettersWired ABOUT WIRED WIRED brings you the future as it happens - the people, the trends, the big ideas that will change our lives. An award-winning printed monthly and online publication. WIRED is an agenda-setting magazine offering brain food on a wide range of topics, from science, technology and business to pop-culture and politics.

Fresh evidence of this comes in a study that documents alarming population declines at numerous sites across the continent over about a half century.

Appeals to Minister for elephant-free festivals

Smithsonian scientists and partners find that technique meant to keep animals and humans safe has opposite effects.

The post Relocating elephants fails to decrease human–wildlife conflict appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Poaching wasn’t the largest conservation concern for Asian elephants, an endangered species, until satellite tracking stunned researchers. Scientists at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (SCBI) […]

The post Poachers are killing endangered Asian elephants for their skin and meat, not their tusks appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Asian elephants are critically endangered and their habitat in the wild is rapidly disappearing, but Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute scientists are working to make sure […]

The post Earth Optimism: Elephants appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Strategically placed honeybee hives can deter African elephants from raiding crops, but the hives must be actively managed by beekeepers to work, according to a […]

The post Study: Managed beehives can discourage crop-raiding elephants appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Weary animals at elephant sanctuary in Thailand relax as volunteer plays classical piano music in the forest.

Researchers are calling the wild lands of 12 million years ago the 'Texas Serengeti.'

The more we learn about elephants, the more we realize they are like us in so many ways.

With the elephant poaching epidemic running rampant, experts fear for the future of these majestic mammals.

What can a farmer do about 7-ton elephants that steal crops? Intimidate them with an insect that weighs a tenth of a gram.

Coronavirus has crippled the global tourism industry and in Thailand that means it includes elephants. As a result of the pandemic many elephants are heading back to their natural habitats.

Wow It's been so long since an installment that I almost don't know where to start but alas I will do my bestSo upon the recommendation of Chloe the three of us girls headed off on a 2 day Mahout Course to learn the fine art of Elephant training. Rea

There is a strange thing that happens when you live overseas. People take weekend trips to Vietnam or Japan or Korea or in my case Thailand. In the states this would be like taking a trip to Florida or California or just to a random city in the midwest.

Animals were burned alive in a fire that swept the winter quarters of Cole Bros. Circus in Fulton County, Indiana, on Feb. 20, 1940.

A Stormy Sunset for Elephants

It was 25 years ago this month that the sporting world witnessed a miracle when the former pariah state of South Africa hosted what many people still consider to be the best ever Rugby World Cup finals.

The mummified remains of a duck-billed dinosaur contain a grey pigment, suggesting it was grey, although other pigments may have been lost during fossilisation

As the pachyderms increasingly clash with farmers and villagers over disappearing land, scientists study the way the animals' minds work

Elephants at Chester Zoo will be treated to a pool party in this week's virtual tour of the attraction which is currently closed to the public during the coronavirus lockdown.

The millions of unemployed in Thailand due to the coronavirus include elephants dependent on tourists to feed their voracious appetites. With scant numbers of foreign visitors, commercial elephant camps and sanctuaries lack funds for their upkeep and have sent more than 100 of the animals trudging back to their natural habitats.

The pandemic has meant more than 100 of the animals are walking as far as 95 miles to their homes.

Photos of allegedly "drunken elephants" quickly went viral on Twitter. But the elephants weren't drunk, they were just resting, officials said.

John Pugh, Wilbur Davenport, and Cole Brothers Circus Inc., entered plea agreements yesterday in U.S. District Court in Beaumont, Texas to resolve Endangered Species Act (ESA) violations related to the purchase and sale of two Asian elephants named “Tina” and “Jewel.”