"This is a signal to the United States and the international community that major resources must be put into curbing ivory poaching and trafficking, closing remaining domestic ivory markets, and saving these marvelous, irreplaceable engineers of the forest and savanna from extinction," said Sanerib. Even if poaching were halted today, forest elephants will take decades to recover because of their slow reproductive rates. Both assessments highlighted that illegally trafficked ivory has increased "substantially" since 2006, according to seizure data. Savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana) have larger frames and ears and curving ivory tusks and are found in southern, eastern and central Africa. Forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) have slightly smaller builds and ears and thinner, straighter ivory and are found in western and central Africa.