African forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotisat) sunrise at Dzanga Bai, Dzanga-Sangha Special ... [+] Reserve, Central African RepublicAndy Isaacson / WWF-USFor centuries, elephants have been called forest gardeners for good reasons.When an elephant moves through trees and bushes, it pushes them aside, says Dr Thomas Breuer from WWF Germany. This reduces the competition for nutrients so that elephants help to create bigger trees faster.One species stands out: the African forest elephant. By toppling small trees and shrubs and stripping vegetation from large trees, the elephants help the trees to grow. Larger trees store significantly more CO2.WWF estimates that one forest elephant can increase the net carbon capture of the forest by almost 250 acres the equivalent of removing a years worth of emissions from 2,047 cars.Forest elephants also have a healthy appetite, eating up to 400 pounds of food a day. Theyre also healthy eaters, foraging for nutritious fruits, digesting them and excreting the seeds.Some seeds wont germinate without travelling through the elephants digestive system first, as many have a tough covering that makes them harder to sprout. But as the elephants chew the seeds and stomach acid weakens them, the shell softens, improving the germination rate and helping to grow the larger trees.Endangered ElephantsYet these elephants are under threat.The situation is dire. The population of African forest elephants has plummeted by 80% in recent years, a decline even more severe than that of African savannah elephants. This rapid loss underscores the urgent need for conservation efforts to protect these creatures.Each year, about 20,000 elephants in Africa are killed for their ivory, increasingly driven by demand from Asia for ivory.If you look at the history of men and elephants, we are responsible for 99% of the species decline, Breuer says. About 80 - 90% of the threats facing the elephant population are unnatural.Breuer explains that some African communities see elephants as hostile. If you imagine an area where no one has seen an elephant for 20 years and suddenly one appears, it can represent mystical or black magic fears, triggering communities to take action.This has a knock-on, calamitous effect on the local environment. When we lose a habitat after the loss of the elephants, its lost forever, Breuer says.Predictive AI Saving ElephantsHowever, there is hope on the horizon.For the last few months, IBM and the World Wide Fund For Nature - Germany (WWF) have been working together to develop a solution based on predictive Artificial Intelligence.IBM has adapted its technology software Maximo Visual Inspection (MVI) from heavy industry to the bush environment. Using AI-powered visual inspection and modelling capabilities, images from camera traps and film will be used to identify individual African forest elephants with greater accuracy - enough to identify individual elephants facially by the wrinkles around the eye or lines on the trunk. Eventually, it may be possible to use other characteristics such as the patterns of veins.Its early days and the project is still under development. But we will improve predictability by training foundation models, leveraging the combination of visual information and data, and building more data sets and knowledge, says Oday Abbosh, Global Sustainability Services Leader, IBM Consulting.On the ground, WWF can use the technology to understand where the elephants are going and count numbers more accurately.While the technology isnt new, the ability to tap into predictive AI is. In future, this technology may also be used to assess the financial value of the forest elephants' carbon sequestration."Being able to identify individual elephants from camera trap images has the potential to be a game-changer, says Breuer. "The spatial data will also show us where these elephants choose to move thus enabling us to protect these wildlife corridors. The forests can continue to reduce carbon through the trees carbon storage."By being present in an area, we can deter poaching crime, adds Breuer. An elephant alive is so much more than the ivory that might be carved from its tusks.