Further protections needed as 1.5 tons of elephant tusks seized in Sri Lanka WASHINGTON, May 24, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Sri Lankan authorities said

Last year, Kenya lost 278 elephants to poachers, as compared to 177 in 2010. On the continent of Africa as whole, elephants have declined from an estimated 700,000 in 1990 to 360,000 today due to the demands of the ivory trade.

AZLE, Texas, Jan.

Conservation group TRAFFIC said on Thursday that in the past 12 months a record number of large ivory seizures across the world have taken place.

According to a study recently published in the science journal Science, elephants have a sixth toe, a previously unknown and underrated digit that is critical in helping the enormous mammals ambulate.