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The Ongava Research Centre is collecting images of cheetahs and leopards in Etosha National Park in order to provide reliable population estimates of these predators for the first time. Did you know that there is no reliable information about the number of cheetahs and leopards in the Etosha National Park? Last year, the Ongava Research Centre (ORC) therefore called on visitors to the national park to take part in a survey by sharing pictures and sightings of cheetahs and leopards.

In 2022, an aerial survey for African savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana) was conducted over the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA) in southern Africa. KAZA is a 520,000-km² network of protected areas in Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The aerial survey found that KAZA holds ~228,000 elephants, confirming that this is the world’s largest population of savanna elephants and a critical stronghold for this endangered species.

African elephants (Loxodonta africana) are imperiled by poaching and habitat loss. Despite global attention to the plight of elephants, their population sizes and trends are uncertain or unknown over much of Africa. To conserve this iconic species, conservationists need timely, accurate data on elephant populations. Here, we report the results of the Great Elephant Census (GEC), the first continent-wide, standardized survey of African savannah elephants. We also provide the first quantitative model of elephant population trends across Africa.