Elephant Database
African Elephant Specialist Group

Ghana
Provisional African Elephant Population Estimates: update to 31 Dec 2013

All Years for Ghana: 201620132007200219981995

Summary Totals for Ghana

Estimates from SurveysGuesses% Known and
Possible Range
Area (km2)
Survey categoryEstimate± 95% CLFromTo
Aerial Total Counts40128.64,338
Reliable Dung Counts6117713.32,021
Other Dung Counts01703125.2791
Informed Guesses00402.1320
Degraded Data19193.0458
Totals 20151,01276189371  
Totals 2006968178281281  
Assessed Range52.27,928
Unassessed Range47.87,253
Total Range10015,181

Summary Totals for Ghana

Data Category Definite Probable Possible Speculative
Aerial or Ground Total Counts401000
Direct Sample Counts and Reliable Dung Counts53477770
Other Dung Counts0189520
Informed Guesses00040
Other Guesses00019
Totals 201393526612959
Totals 200678938724112

Interpretation of Changes in Estimates from Previous Report

 Estimates from SurveysGuessesArea
Cause of Change Estimate ± 95% CL From To% Known and PossibleTotal
Repeat Survey+90±41-100-87.11,084
New Population000+402.1320
Different Area00+10+603.3498
New Guess-46±167000.00
Data Degraded00000.9140
Totals+44±172-90+9213.42,041

Interpretation of Changes in Estimates from Previous Report

Cause of Change Definite Probable Possible Speculative
Repeat Survey+49-13+140
New Population000+40
Different Area0+35+100
New Guess0-46-1670
Data Degraded00-7+7
Totals+49-24-150+47

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

Cause of Change Definite Probable Possible Speculative
Repeat Survey+146-66+100
New Population000+40
Different Area0+176+70
New Guess0-232-1240
Data Degraded00-5+7
Totals+146-121-112+47

Area of Range Covered by Each Data Category (km²)

Data CategoryKnown RangePossible RangeTotal Range
Aerial or Ground Total Counts2,6281,7104,338
Direct Sample Counts and Reliable Dung Counts2,02002,021
Informed Guesses0320320
Other Dung Counts73359791
Other Guesses318140458
Unassessed Range7636,4897,253
Totals6,4638,71815,181

Ghana: Elephant Estimates

Cause ofSurvey Details2 Number of Elephants Area Map Location
Input ZoneChange1TypeReliab.YearEstimate95% C.L. SourcePFS3 (km²) Lon. Lat.
+ Ankasa Conservation AreaDADCC200956 25Danquah, 20092704 2.6W 5.3N
DADCC200956 25Danquah, 2009704 2.6W 5.3N
+ Bia Conservation AreaRSDCC2009133 46Danquah, 20092306 3.1W 6.6N
RSDCC2009133 46Danquah, 2009306 3.1W 6.6N
+ Chichibon Corridor-OE199412 3*Sam & Wilson, 19942290 0.7W 7.3N
-OE199412 3*Sam & Wilson, 1994290 0.7W 7.3N
+ Dadieso Forest Reserve-OE20027Ayesu, 20032195 3.0W 6.0N
-OE20027Ayesu, 2003195 3.0W 6.0N
+ Digya National Park-DCB2006357 54Kumordzi & Danquah, 200713,478 0.3W 7.4N
-DCB2006357 54Kumordzi & Danquah, 20073,478 0.3W 7.4N
+ Goaso EcosystemRSDCB20079041Danquah et al., 200912,035 3.0W 6.7N
RSDCB200790 41Danquah et al., 2009970 3.0W 6.7N
RSDCB20070Danquah et al., 20091,065 3.0W 6.7N
+ Kakum Conservation Area-DCB2004164 36Danquah, 20042366 1.3W 5.5N
-DCB2004164 36Danquah, 2004366 1.3W 5.5N
+ Mole National Park-ATA2006401Bouché, 200614,504 1.9W 9.6N
-ATA2006401Bouché, 20064,504 1.9W 9.6N
+ North Western CorridorNPOD20060 40*Bouché, 2006a1584 1.5W 10.9N
NPOD20060 40*Bouché, 2006a584 1.5W 10.9N
+ Red & White Volta EcosystemNGOD20060Bouché, 200711,106 0.5W 10.7N
NGOD20060Bouché, 20071,106 0.5W 10.7N

* 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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