Title: Bornean Elephant Added to the "Red List" of Animals

The Bornean elephant, the smallest species of elephants in Asia, has been included in the International Union for Conservation of Nature's list of endangered species, which reported only about a thousand Bornean elephants left in the wild. This is the first time the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the body that creates the "Red Lists" of endangered animals, has studied the Bornean elephant as a subspecies of Asian elephants. The IUCN stated in an update to its Red List that "the number of elephants has declined over the past 75 years due to extensive logging in Borneo's forests, leading to the destruction of most of their habitats." It noted, "With the rapid increase in population in Sabah (a Malaysian state located in northeastern Borneo), elephants often enter human-dominated environments in search of food, causing damage to crops and resulting in human fatalities." The IUCN warned that the continued destruction of elephant habitats, primarily due to palm oil production, logging, and mining, would increase the threats faced by these elephants. The organization confirmed that the "Pan Borneo" highway project, aimed at connecting Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia on the island of Borneo, poses a risk to the future of the smallest Asian elephant species.