Less than 5 percent of elephants die from cancer, and researchers may have finally figured out why. According to a study from The University of Chicago, elephants produce "zombie genes" that can help protect the animal from cancer. Here's how it works: Humans and other animals carry one copy of a "master tumor suppressor" gene. Elephants have 20 copies. Scientists found that gene can trigger a "zombie gene" to come back to life with a new purpose: killing cells in damaged DNA.

A casual chill by the pool for a couple of tourists in South Africa's Kruger National Park became an unexpected up-close moment with nature. The pair were filmed frozen to their sunbeds as three wild elephants popped by for a drink from the swimming pool. Another couple made the recording and told Newsflare it was one of the "most amusing sights we have seen in a long time".

India's southern state of Kerala has had a long tradition of using elephants for religious celebrations and parades. The pomp, however, belies the cruel conditions under which these gentle giants live.

The elephant staggered and keeled over in the tall grass in southern Tanzania, where some of the world's worst poaching has happened. It wasn't a killer who targeted her but a conservation official, immobilizing her with a dart containing drugs. Soon she was snoring loudly, and they propped open her trunk with a twig to help her breathe. They slid a 26-pound GPS tracking collar around the rough skin of her neck and injected an antidote, bringing her back to her feet. After inspecting the contraption with her trunk, she ambled back to her family herd.

Animal in India may have been trying to ingest wood charcoal and blowing away the ash

Scientists have been left baffled by a wild elephant caught on camera blowing out plumes of smoke while consuming smouldering lumps of charcoal. Researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) filmed the female elephant exhibiting the unusual behaviour at Nagahrole National Park in India. In the video, the mammal can been seen picking up lumps of charcoal with its trunk, placing the coal in its mouth, and exhaling a large cloud of smoke.

Officials in the Indian state of Uttarakhand have saved a wild elephant from drowning in the Ganges river. Forest guards at Rajaji Tiger Reserve near Rishikesh found the elephant stuck at one of the barrages on the river early on Thursday. They diverted water to reduce the river level, allowing the male elephant to swim to safety.

A research team peering into the relatively underexplored "junk" DNA of mammals has found more clues as to elephants' extraordinary ability to evade cancer - and determined that the genes responsible for mitigating damage in elephant cells can also b

It's just one survival mechanism elephants have developed in response to poaching, conflict, urbanization, and other pressures.

A year ago, no one in Mayilattumpara could sleep soundly at night. Residents of the village in the foothills of Thrissur district, in southwest India's Kerala state, feared invasions by wild elephants. The animals, reacting to the loss of their forest habitat and a scarcity of food, frequently invaded the farmland around the village, trampling on plants and crops and destroying incomes.

As of December 31, China’s legal, government-sanctioned ivory trade will come to a close. All of the country’s licensed ivory carving factories and retailers will be shuttered in accordance with a landmark 2015 announcement from Chinese President Xi Jinping and then U.S. President Barack Obama. China and the U.S. both agreed to “near-complete” ivory bans, which prohibit the buying and selling of all but a limited number of antiques and a few other items. The U.S.’s ivory ban went into effect in June 2016. China’s goes into effect December 31, 2017.

Syd Barrett

Elephants and other large animals have a lower incidence of cancer than would be expected statistically, suggesting that they have evolved ways to protect themselves against the disease. A new study reveals how elephants do it: An old gene that was no longer functional was recycled from the vast “genome junkyard” to increase the sensitivity of elephant cells to DNA damage, enabling them to cull potentially cancerous cells early.

In January 2016, Susan Canney, director of the Mali Elephant Project, predicted all of Mali's elephants would be killed within three years if poaching continued unabated. "They are probably among the most extremely endangered of Africa's elephants," said Iain Douglas-Hamilton, the founder of Save the Elephants, a wildlife advocacy group. "I am extremely worried."

An image of two elephants fleeing a mob that set them on fire in eastern India highlights the ongoing human-elephant conflicts in the region. The photograph, named “Hell is Here,” was taken by Biplab Hazra and was named the winner of the Sanctuary Wildlife Photography Awards 2017. The image shows a calf on fire as it and an adult elephant run for their lives — as a crowd of "jeering" people throw "flaming tar balls" and firecrackers at the pair.

Great news! India has banned the use of all wild animals in circuses! The Central Zoo Authority (CZA) of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has canceled the recognition of all circuses in the country that force wild animals to perform tricks in the name of entertainment. This happened after year-long inspections in which extreme animal cruelty was reported.

The Guardian has been given exclusive footage which shows the capture of young, wild elephants in Zimbabwe in preparation, it is believed, for their legal sale to Chinese zoos. In the early morning of 8 August, five elephants were caught in Hwange national park by officials at Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (Zimparks).

A new website helps you translate human words and emotions into a form of elephant communication. By Casey Smith. (Aug. 11, 2017)

The head of an animal conservation NGO who had received numerous death threats has been shot and killed by an unknown gunman in Tanzania. Wayne Lotter, 51, was shot on Wednesday evening in the Masaki district of the city of Dar es Salaam. The wildlife conservationist was being driven from the airport to his hotel when his taxi was stopped by another vehicle. Two men, one armed with a gun opened his car door and shot him.

An Argentinian man has been killed in Namibia after he was trampled by an elephant, local media report. The Namibia Press Agency said the hunter, identified as 46-year-old Jose Monzalvez, was killed on Saturday afternoon in a private wildlife area 70 kilometers (43 miles) northwest of the small town of Kalkfeld.