The Threats Facing The Elephants

A tractor loads logs onto a truck in the Malaysian state of Sabah in northeast Borneo.

Sabah's quickly diminishing forests are home to the Borneo pygmy elephant. Human activity—including logging and the creation of wood and palm oil plantations—has caused elephants to enter unsuitable swamp areas and to restrict their ranges to narrow corridors, according to a WWF report released August 9, 2007.

“The conversion of forests to plantations remains the biggest threat to Sabah's elephants, because no plantation can provide the types and amounts of food necessary to sustain breeding populations of elephants,"WWF researchers wrote.