Why is this day important? Prior to European colonization, scientists believe that Africa may have held as many as 20 million elephants; by 1979 only 1.3 million remained. Today, Africa’s savannah elephant population is estimated at just over 350,000. The current rate of species decline is 8%, meaning that elephant numbers could more than halve to 160,000 in nine years. If nothing changes, localized extinction is almost certain. source   Why is this happening? The main threats to elephants are: (1) The Ivory Trade: A recent research by Save the Elephants revealed that an estimated 100,000 elephants were killed for their ivory in Africa between 2010 and 2012. That’s an average of…