MALI'S ELEPHANTS MAPS

Mali's elephants, Africa's northernmost herd and adapted to life in the country's hard desert, were in desperate need of protection.

The elephants live in an unforgiving landscape southeast of Timbuktu, enduring sandstorms and blistering temperatures.

To survive, they trek in search of food and water across what is thought to be- The biggest migratory range of their species, 12,400 square miles.

But it wasn't only climate change endangering the elephants. It was also poachers.

They were being slaughtered in staggering numbers as ivory traffickers took advantage of a security vacuum in the region, with 163 killed since 2012, said Susan Canney, director of the Mali Elephant Projecct-

An institute of the Wild foundation and the International Conservation Fund of Canada.

The situation was so  dire that in January 2016, Dr. Canney predicted that all of Mali's elephants would be killed within three years if poaching continued unabated.

''They're probably among the most extremely endangered of Africa's elephants, said Ian Douglas-Hamilton, the founder of Save the Elephants, a wildlife advocacy group.

''I am extremely worried.''

To defend the 300 or so elephants that remain, Mali has formed an anti-poaching brigade to patrol a Switzerland size area called the Gourma-

With the force deterring poachers and assisting isolated communities along the elephant's migratory route.

The brigade combines rangers and army forces.