Elephant Database
African Elephant Specialist Group

Rwanda
2016 African Elephant Status Report

All Years for Rwanda: 201620132007200219981995

Summary Totals for Rwanda

Estimates from SurveysGuesses% Known and
Possible Range
Area (km2)
Survey categoryEstimate± 95% CLFromTo
Aerial Total Counts8877.9840
Degraded Data373720.9226
Totals 20158803737  
Totals 20063403783  
Assessed Range98.81,066
Unassessed Range1.213
Total Range1001,079

Summary Totals for Rwanda

Data Category Definite Probable Possible Speculative
Aerial or Ground Total Counts88000
Other Guesses00037
Totals 2015880037
Totals 20063403746

Interpretation of Changes in Estimates from Previous Report

 Estimates from SurveysGuessesArea
Cause of Change Estimate ± 95% CL From To% Known and PossibleTotal
Different Technique+5400-4677.9840
Data Degraded00000.00
Totals+5400-4677.91,066

Interpretation of Changes in Estimates from Previous Report

Cause of Change Definite Probable Possible Speculative
Different Technique+5400-46
Totals+5400-46

Interpretation of Changes in Estimates from Previous Report (2007 scaling)

Cause of Change Definite Probable Possible Speculative
Different Technique+5400-9
Totals+5400-9

Area of Range Covered by Each Data Category (km²)

Data CategoryKnown RangePossible RangeTotal Range
Aerial or Ground Total Counts8400840
Other Guesses2260226
Unassessed Range13013
Totals1,07901,079

Rwanda: Elephant Estimates

Cause ofSurvey Details2 Number of Elephants Area Map Location
Input ZoneChange1TypeReliab.YearEstimate95% C.L. SourcePFS3 (km²) Lon. Lat.
+ Akagera National ParkDTATA201388Macpherson, 201311,087 30.7E 1.7S
DTATA201388Macpherson, 20131,087 30.7E 1.7S
+ Volcans National Park-OE200337Gray, pers. comm., 20051150 29.5E 1.5S
-OE200337Gray, pers. comm., 2005150 29.5E 1.5S

* Range of informed guess

1Key to Causes of Change (only tracked since 2007): DA: Different Area; DD: Data Degraded; DT: Different Technique; NA: New Analysis; NG: New Guess; NP: New population; PL: Population Lost; RS: Repeat Survey (RS ́ denotes a repeat survey that is not statistically comparable for reasons such as different season); –––: No Change

2Key to Survey Types: AC: Aerial Count, not specified; AS: Aerial Sample Count; AT: Aerial Total Count; DC: Dung Count; EX: Extrapolation from GIS; GD: Genetic Dung Count; GS: Ground Sample Count; GT: Ground Total Count; IG: Informed Guess; IR: Individual Registration; OG: Other Guess. Survey Type is followed by an indicator of survey quality, ranked from 1 to 3 (best to worst). Survey Reliability is keyed A-E (best to worst) as outlined in this table.

3PFS: Priority for Future Surveys, ranked from 1 to 5 (highest to lowest). Based on the precision of estimates and the proportion of national range accounted for by the site in question, PFS is a measure of the importance and urgency for future population surveys. All areas of unassessed range have a priority of 1. See Introduction for details on how the PFS is derived.

Note that totals for the Definite, Probable, and Possible categories are derived by pooling the variances of individual estimates, as described at http://www.africanelephantdatabase.org/reliability. As a result, totals do not necessarily match the simple sum of the entries within a given category.

IUCNSpecies Survival Commission

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