The world’s smallest elephant, the Bornean elephant, is at risk of becoming extinct in the wild.
The animal is found only on the Indonesian island of Borneo and is significantly smaller than its Asian cousins. It has lost much of its habitat to deforestation.
It is estimated that only about 1 000 individuals are left in the wild.
There are now attempts by environmental activists to get the animal onto the Red List of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). This could raise awareness around its plight.
The BBC quoted Professor Adrian Lister, of London’s Natural History Museum, as saying: ‘We hope that by getting the Borneo elephants on to the Red List that will galvanise the efforts for their conservation to protect their habitat because the authorities will now see that the eyes of the world are on this species.’