The national animal of Guinea is the African forest elephant. This is aspecies of African elephant mostly found in East Africa today. They are very important national symbols and embodiments of the country’s natural landscape and beauty. Elephants are among the most important animals in human symbolic history.
Elephants are naturally very important in many African nations, and this is certainly true in Guinea.
They have been seen as important symbols by the people of Guinea for a very long time and today this is just as true; and their precarious, critically endangered conservation status has only made this more important.
Let’s find out more.
What is the national animal of Guinea?
The national animal of Guinea is the African forest elephant.
This is a species of African elephant of which there are two living today.
They are native to the tropical forests of West Africa and the Congo Basin.
They are doubtless one of Africa’s most iconic animal, and for a number of obvious reasons have had a profound impact on the human imagination in virtually any culture to which they have been known.
They have played and continue to play a very important role in Guinean national identity.
Of the three living species of elephant, African forest elephants are the smallest.
They can reach a shoulder height of just under eight feet, though bulls can sometimes be as tall as almost ten feet.
Females are typically smaller, not usually being taller than eight feet.
They weigh anywhere from 4,400 pounds in the females up to the heaviest males being as much as 15,400 pounds.
Their skin is grey and sparsely covered with coarse, black hair.
Like other elephant species, they have tusks that face down and begin to grow once the elephant is between one and three years old.
The tusks of a bull will grow continuously throughout life, while the females’ tusks do not grow beyond their sexual maturity.
They live in family groups that could range anywhere from eight to 20 individuals.
These groups are typically led by mature females as mature males will separate from the group once they come of age.
They can travel as much as 5 miles per day and cover a home range as large as roughly 800 square miles.
Being members of the largest species to currently walk the earth, they are truly impressive in just about every way—but why are they the national animal of Guinea?
Why is the African forest elephant the national animal of Guinea?
The African forest elephant is the national animal of Guinea for a few reasons.
On the one hand, elephants are very important symbolically in a number of ways.
They are seen as symbols of strength, legacy, and even enduring memory.
It is not simply an aphorism that elephants never forget; their feats of memory are really astonishing.
They embody these important things to the people of Guinea, and this is part of the reason they are considered to be the national animal.
On the other hand, they more literally represent the natural beauty of the country.
Elephants are spirits of the forests of Guinea and though highly elusive and hard to find, they are nonetheless seen as the embodiment of the country’s ecological landscape.
Few animals are as emblematic of African wildlife, particularly in West Africa, as the forest elephant.
There is, though, also the graver question of conservation.
African forest elephants are, sadly, critically endangered.
Many elements have led to a huge decline in their population numbers, such as poaching and the loss of their habitat.
By making them the national anima, Guinea hopes to bring attention to their plight and aid future conservation efforts.
How many African forest elephants are left?
Precise figures are hard to put on the remaining number of African forest elephants, given that they are often so elusive.
In any case, a count in 2021 showed that the population numbers had decreased by as much as 80% over the course of only three generations.
This is a very serious decline in their numbers and, as mentioned, makes them critically endangered.
However many there are left, the species is under serious threat.
The main problem is the loss of their habitat, and without significant rewilding efforts, the species may struggle to survive.
What is the largest elephant today?
The answer is that it is certainly not the African forest elephant, which is in fact the smallest species of elephant living today.
Given their need to inhabit closer, forest environments, they have evolved smaller bodies to make navigating these places easier.
Its African cousin, the savanna elephant, is the largest species of elephant living today.
They naturally inhabit much more open, much wider spaces, and so they are able to support a larger body size without the need to navigate narrow forests.
But species of Asian elephants are also bigger than African forest elephants in general and, as mentioned, these tend to be the smallest elephant species of them all.
So, again, these animals are in a very precarious position and it is hard to say what the future holds for the species.
With proper conservation efforts the species could indeed bounce back, but it is a question of what needs to be done to ensure that they do not end up in this situation again in the future.
In any case, they will remain an important symbol in Guinea for many years to come.