Elephant Database
African Elephant Specialist Group

Ghana
2016 African Elephant Status Report

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 Counts5936812.91,956
Other Dung Counts0561063.3498
Informed Guesses0000.00
Degraded Data1831835.4816
Totals 201599467238288  
Totals 2006968178281281  
Assessed Range50.17,609
Unassessed Range49.97,573
Total Range10015,181

Summary Totals for Ghana

Data Category Definite Probable Possible Speculative
Aerial or Ground Total Counts401000
Direct Sample Counts and Reliable Dung Counts52568680
Other Dung Counts056250
Informed Guesses0000
Other Guesses000183
Totals 201592612493183
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+1460-105-555.2791
Different Technique+90±41-72-725.2790
Population Lost-46±167000.00
Data Degraded-164±36+164+1640.00
No Change0±760039.76,027
Totals+26±191-13+3750.17,609

Interpretation of Changes in Estimates from Previous Report

Cause of Change Definite Probable Possible Speculative
Repeat Survey+98-32-190
Different Technique+49-31-30
Population Lost0-46-1670
Totals+147-109-1890

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

Cause of Change Definite Probable Possible Speculative
Repeat Survey+91-77-150
Different Technique+46-75-20
Population Lost0-111-1300
Totals+137-263-1480

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 Counts1,95601,956
Other Dung Counts43959498
Other Guesses676140816
Unassessed Range7636,8097,573
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 AreaRSDCC200956 25Danquah, 20092704 2.6W 5.3N
RSDCC200956 25Danquah, 2009704 2.6W 5.3N
+ Bia Conservation AreaRSDCB2009146 26Danquah & Oppong, 20145306 3.1W 6.5N
RSDCB2009146 26Danquah & Oppong, 2014306 3.1W 6.5N
+ 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 Forest Reserves ComplexDTDCB20079041Danquah et al., 200912,035 3.0W 6.7N
DTDCB200790 41Danquah et al., 2009970 3.0W 6.7N
DTDCB20070Danquah et al., 20091,065 3.0W 6.7N
+ Kakum Conservation Area-DCE2004164 36Danquah, 20042366 1.3W 5.5N
-DCE2004164 36Danquah, 2004366 1.3W 5.5N
+ Mole National Park-ATA2006401Bouché, 200614,504 1.9W 9.6N
-ATA2006401Bouché, 20064,504 1.9W 9.6N
+ Red & White Volta EcosystemPLOD20060Bouché, 200711,106 0.5W 10.7N
PLOD20060Bouché, 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.

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