A mutilated elephant carcass lies at Sinamatela area inside Hwange National Park west of Zimbabwe, October 14,2015. (Xinhua/Stringer)
HARARE, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- Gory photos of mutilated elephants with tusks removed by poachers emerge as over 40 elephants were killed in the past month by ivory poachers using cyanide in two national parks in Zimbabwe.
The lack of face is a tip-off for rangers to identify elephants killed in poaching.
Elephants have one third of their tusks hidden inside their heads, which are usually hacked off by poachers who aim to take off the entire tusks as soon as possible.
About 472,000 to 690,000 African elephants likely roam the continent today, down from possibly 5 million in the 1930s and 1940s.
Conservationists warn that unless effective intervention is put into place, this generation could be the last to see large jumbos walk in African forests and savannahs.
