Paul Allen spent $7 million counting Africa's elephants; 30% had vanished

In 2013, Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Paul G Allen committed $7 million to one of the largest efforts ever undertaken to determine how many African elephants remained in the wild. Known as the Great Elephant Census, the project was led by Elephants Without Borders and involved scientists, conservation organisations, pilots and wildlife authorities across the continent. Aerial surveys were conducted between 2014 and 2016 across 18 countries, producing an estimate of 352,271 savanna elephants. More alarming than the total was what the census revealed about their decline. In 15 countries where reliable historical comparisons were possible, savanna elephant numbers had fallen by about 30% between 2007 and 2014, with researchers estimating that populations were continuing to decline at roughly 8% each year.Paul Allen's $7 million investment launched a continent-wide countAllen announced the Great Elephant Census in December 2013 after becoming increasingly concerned about the lack of reliable, standardised information on Africa's elephant populations. The initiative was funded with $7 million from his philanthropic organisation and was designed to provide conservationists wit...