Researchers find at least 4,184 of the endangered big cats have been since 2009Researchers trawled through 60,000 online adverts over the past decade to understand the extent of the trade.

It goes without saying that humans have significantly reduced the habitat available to elephants across Africa (as is the case for almost every wild species).

Animals have long played an important symbolic role in human societies.

Over the past few decades, South Africa has seen a dramatic conversion from livestock or crop farming to wildlife ranching – known locally as game farming.

Africa’s elephant population has plummeted from roughly a million in 1970 to around 400,000 today – a decline which is largely blamed on poaching for their ivory tusks. At its peak in 2011, poaching claimed 36,000 elephants a year, or one every 15 minutes.

Humans have been over-exploiting African elephants for centuries.