The African elephant was among the first recognized flagship species, providing a rallying point to raise awareness and stimulate action and funding for broader conservation efforts. The conservation focus has been mainly on issues surrounding the killing (legal and illegal) of elephants for their ivory. However, elephants also serve as keystone or umbrella species, playing a pivotal role in ecosystem function and helping to maintain suitable habitats for myriad other species. Its conservation emphasizes many of the ideas of landscape design being promoted in Africa. It can be argued that a future for elephants therefore means a future for much of the biodiversity in Africa.

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