@jasperdoest

This emaciated female forest elephant may be evidence that climate change is harming even the most untouched forests. She wasn’t the only one, as I witnessed many elephants like her during my visit to Gabon. It should have been the time of year where elephants would be in their prime condition after feasting on the annual abundance of fruit, but it was clear this wasn’t the case. She’s clearly in bad physical condition, with individual ribs visible, depressions in front and back of the pelvic bone and a prominent backbone from tail to head, with deep depressions in the lumbar region. It’s an alarming sight. The archival photos from former station manager Katherine Abernathy show Billy, a forest elephant bull that was a frequent visitor to the research station in Lopé in the early ’90’s. As you can see Billy was enormous, unlike anything the researchers witness today. Scientists think higher temperatures and less rainfall are to blame for a dramatic drop in the amount of fruit on the trees in Lope’s forests. The lack of fruit appears to be making it harder for elephants to get the nutrition they need. Photo @jasperdoest #onassignment @natgeo in #Gabon. The story is currently published in the May edition of the magazine, which is a special issue dedicated to the state of the world’s forests.