Staying with an elefriendly theme, our 22nd #BrightenYourDay video takes us deep into the Congo Basin to meet a very different elephant to those seen on the usual safari in East or Southern Africa.
This is Gentil, an adult male forest elephant, feeding on palm fronds in the #rainforest around the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park near Bomassa, Republic of #Congo.
With his splendid tusks, Gentil owes his life to the protection given by the park's rangers and warden, aided by WCS Congo.
Less well known than the Savannah Elephant, African #ForestElephants are now considered a separate species, Loxodonta cyclotis. Anatomically they are quite distinct, with round ears - hence the scientific name cycl - otis - and tusks that point downwards from the skull when the head is at rest. Not only do they look very different, genetic studies have confirmed that the evolutionary split occurred more than 2.6 million years ago (https://www.nature.com/articles/news.2010.691) and although there has been some limited hybridisation in a couple of locations, the science is clear: Africa has two species of elephant.
Sadly, forest elephants have seen a drastic fall in number - victims of the illegal ivory trade. Surveys indicate a 62 per cent decline between 2002 and 2011. The ecological impact of this decline will be catastrophic because elephants play such an important role in maintaining the health if the forest, dispersing seeds, fertilising the soil and creating light gaps as they feed - they are truly mega- #GardenersoftheForest.