Striding majestically across the savanna, the African elephant is an unmistakable symbol of power and strength. As recently as the 1970s, its numbers were so great that some conservationists worried about overpopulation. Now the elephant is involved in a desperate struggle to survive, and the reason for its peril is one of its glories: the huge creature's magnificent tusks of ivory. Since the early 1980s, the price of ivory has surged from $25 per lb. to $80 per lb. As a result, growing bands of wily and ruthless poachers have taken to hunting down elephants illegally all across Africa, killing the...
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