World Elephant Day raises awareness of threats to pachyderms

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The about one month old female elephant Anjuli and brother Assam play on a heap of sand in their enclosure at the Hagenbeck zoo in Hamburg, northern Germany, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2015. (Daniel Bockwoldt/dpa via AP)

There are only 500,000 elephants remaining in the world and the population is at constant threat from poaching, habitat loss, and human-wildlife conflict. To raise awareness of their plight, people around the world honor them on August 12, 2015, World Elephant Day.

Significant elephant populations are now confined to well-protected areas. However, less than 20 percent of African elephant habitat is under formal protection, the WWF reports.

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