The sweeping grasslands of the African savannah might not exist without elephants. They knock down so many trees that forests transform into plains, where other grazers and birds feed. Elephants maintain the shape of the land, and without them, everything would change. And for many, that would make the world a poorer place.
"There's some connection between humans and elephants that would be a really sad thing to lose," says Kevin Uno of Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University.
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