African elephants are being killed for their ivory at such a rate that most large groups could be extinct by 2020, researchers say.

African elephants are being killed for their ivory at such a rate that most large groups could be extinct by 2020, researchers say.

Samuel Wasser, of the University of Washington, said the elephant death rate from poaching was 8%. When the international ivory trade ban was introduced in 1989, it was 7.4%.

Dr Wasser and fellow researchers warned in the journal Conservation Biology that, without public pressure to ensure a strengthening of anti-poaching measures, most remaining large groups of elephants will be extinct by the end of next decade.

The African population in the 1980s was about a million, with around 70,000 elephants being killed a year. The total is now less than 470,000.

Dr Wasser said: "If the trend continues, there won't be any elephants except in fenced areas with a lot of enforcement to protect them.

"The situation is worse than ever before and the public is unaware. It's very serious because elephants are an incredibly important species.

"They keep habitats open so other species that depend on such ecosystems can use them. Without elephants there will be major habitat changes, with negative effects on the many species that depend on the lost habitat.

"Elephants are also a major part of ecotourism, an important source of hard currency for many African countries."

Recent reports have shown that demand for ivory is growing in places such as China, Japan and the US.

DNA analysis techniques developed by Dr Wasser's laboratory shows that hunters involved in recent seizures are targeting specific herds.

Dr Wasser said such information could be used to increase and focus enforcement efforts for at-risk groups of elephants, but that will only happen with greater international pressure to save them.

The restrictions on ivory brought in by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species in 1989 led to much stronger enforcement efforts and almost halted poaching.

But the success of the ban led to less enforcement, and poaching increased again.

Dr Wasser said: "Public support stopped the illegal ivory trade back in 1989 and can do so again."