Wildlife Conservation Conservation - Elephanatics Foundation

Protecting African Elephants: Research, Technology, and Action

Elephanatics is fiercely dedicated to protecting African elephants, who face critical threats from ivory poaching, habitat destruction, and increasing human development. Our approach is powered by cutting-edge research and innovative technology led by our co-founder, Dr. Jake Wall.

🐘 The Challenge: Mapping Habitat Restriction

Data is the first line of defence. Seminal research led by our Co-founder and Lead Scientist, Dr. Jake Wall, revealed a staggering truth: due to human interference and rapid development, elephants are currently restricted to using only 17% of their potential range across Africa. Read his paper here.

** DYK – Elephants are now crowded into less than 1/5th of their natural African range.

By using geospatial mapping to identify these fragmented habitats, we can pinpoint exactly where migration has been cut off. This data allows Elephanatics and our partners to work on “reopening the map”—identifying and protecting the critical wildlife corridors elephants need to move safely, find water, and thrive in the wild.

🛰️ Technology: A Digital Shield

Our mission is anchored by the 20 years of geospatial expertise that our Co-founder, Dr. Jake Wall, CEO Wildlife Dynamics, brings to the global conservation community. Elephanatics helps turn this high-level research into real-time defence by supporting the work of our world-class African partners—including Save the Elephants and Mara Elephant Project. Through our collaborative efforts and the expertise of Dr. Jake Wall, Elephanatics supports the mission to put advanced conservation technology directly onto the frontlines of elephant protection.

1. Supporting Real-Time Poaching Defense

We champion the use of advanced GPS collar technology and sophisticated algorithms to monitor elephant safety across vast, often unreachable landscapes.

The Alert System: Through our partners, we support the use of custom algorithms that monitor for abnormal behavior. If an elephant’s movement suddenly stops, the technology detects the change instantly.
Enabling Rapid Response: This triggers an immediate alert to anti-poaching and wildlife management teams on the ground, allowing rangers to reach the site in minutes rather than days.

🐘 Global Conservation Technology Platforms

Dr. Wall is a key architect behind the systems that have become the industry standard for global wildlife management:
- EarthRanger: A platform that integrates data from collars, ranger patrols, and sensors onto a single, live map for protected area security.
- Ecoscope: An open-source analysis module that converts complex spatial data into actionable insights for decision-makers.

Public Engagement & Awareness

We believe that to protect elephants, the world must first fall in love with them. We use digital innovation to bridge the gap between Canada and the African savanna:
- Google Street View: A collaboration with Google to map Kenya’s Samburu National Park, allowing anyone, anywhere, to take a “virtual safari.”
- Story Spheres: An interactive application using panoramic photos and audio to share the lived experiences of elephants and the local communities who coexist with them.

🎉 Recognized Leadership

Our commitment to science-based conservation is led by world-renowned expertise. Dr. Jake Wall was recently awarded the 2025 Esmond B. Martin Royal Geographical Society Prize for his outstanding individual achievement in geographical research and its application to wildlife conservation.

This level of technical leadership ensures that every dollar donated to Elephanatics supports the most effective, data-driven conservation efforts available today.

🌍🤲 How You Can Help

Conservation is a global effort. Whether you are a teacher in Vancouver or a supporter in Toronto, your involvement matters.

How You Can Be a Conservationist (From Anywhere!)

🌍 Educate: Download our 2026 Elephant Conservation Fact Sheet for your classroom.
📣 Advocate: (Coming this August!): We are preparing to launch the UNTOC Advocacy Campaign: Championing the Wildlife Crime Protocol. This official toolkit will help classrooms engage with international law. In the meantime, teachers can use our Argumentative or Persuasive Essay to help students practice writing impactful letters to government leaders about protecting global biodiversity.
🤲 Support: Your donations fund the GPS data and technology used by our African partners to monitor at-risk herds.

Supplementary Resources

View Dr. Wall’s speech at the 2015 Global March for Elephants and Rhinos here and view more photos from the march here.

View some photos from an aerial survey done by Dr. Wall while working with The Mara Elephant project using his GPS technology:

In photo 1, you can see a big bull elephant with his tracking collar on. The bull looks healthy and it’s always interesting to see if there are any other elephants around, as bulls often travel alone.

In the second photo, you can see a female elephant travelling with her family. It’s much more difficult to count herds than solo elephants from the air. How many do you see?

In the third photo, there is a giant herd we found on the side of a hill. Herds this big require many photos to count them all upon return to your desk. It’s a nuanced situation, as getting closer with the plane or helicopter might make the elephants start running, whereas being too far away makes it difficult to see what’s going on. Thank goodness for zoom lenses! On one hand, it’s lovely to see this many elephants together. On the other, it makes scientists wonder WHY they are sticking so close together. Could it be the threat of human encroachment on their land? This is a growing problem in the Mara.