Additionally, elephants have been escaping from Kruger and pestering neighboring communities, the department's director general Pamela Yako said.
She showed members of the media pictures of elephants breaking through the park's fences, which were supposed to be "99 percent elephant proof."
"As we all know, nothing stops a determined elephant," she said, adding that 44 head of cattle had been killed by elephants who escaped to a village next to Kruger in the past few weeks.
"The cattle (are) a source of livelihood for the families around that area," Yako said.
According to figures presented by South African National Parks, there were between 150 and 200 elephants south of the Zambezi River in southern Africa in 1900. The region is now home to some 250,000 elephants, most of them in Botswana and Zimbabwe.
Name: African Elephant (
Loxodonta africana)
Primary Classification: Proboscidea (Elephants)
Location: Africa.
Habitat: Wide range, including desert, scrub, savanna and high rainforest.
Diet: Bark, fruit, grass and leaves.
Size: Up to 16 ft in length, 13 ft in height, and 11 tons in weight.
Description: Gray, sparsely haired skin; large ears, which aid in temperature regulation; long, forward-curving ivory tusks, used for fighting, digging and eating; long, muscular trunk with two finger-like projections at the tip.
Cool Facts: It is the largest land mammal on Earth. It takes care of weak and injured pack members and grieves over dead companions. It has a particular fascination with the tusks and bones of dead elephants.
Conservation Status: Endangered
Major Threat: Poaching
What Can I Do?: Visit
Save the Elephants, the
African Wildlife Foundation, and the
Living With Elephants Foundation for information on how you can help endangered elephants.
