African elephant numbers pass poaching tipping point

More African elephants are being poached each year than are being born with the booming ivory trade causing a massive decline in the animals' numbers.

One in 12 African elephants was killed by a poacher in 2011 alone, with illegal hunting on the rise thanks to the popularity of ivory in China.

The first reliable continent-wide study on elephant numbers has shown that the regional population of the massive mammal dropped by 64 percent in central Africa.

"(Humans) are shredding the fabric of elephant society and exterminating populations across the continent," study author George Wittemyer said.

In 2012 poachers in Cameroon slaughtered hundreds of elephants in one massacre using automatic weapons.

At the current rate, elephants will be hunted to extinction within the century.

The study published in the National Academy of Sciences of the USA showed a continent-wide drop of eight percent in 2011 alone.

The study estimated there are between 472,000 and 690,000 elephants in Africa today.