The endangered African forest elephants are the gardeners of the world's second largest rainforest belt along the equator in Africa.

In the video you see where on the map and how they live.

Now a new study shows that if they disappear, the rainforest would bind between 6-9 percent less carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Valuable manure spreaders

The forest elephants graze fast-growing trees that do not store much carbon dioxide, and instead give the slow-growing giant trees that bind a lot of carbon dioxide a chance.

In addition, the elephants eat fruit from giant trees and spread the seeds with their dung.

About 15 percent of all vegetation globally is found in African tropical rainforests.

Fewer than 100,000 forest elephants remain

This year, the International Monetary Fund calculated that the forest elephants provide us with ecosystem services worth SEK 1,500 billion.

But the forest elephants are now acutely threatened.

Only a tenth remain due to poaching and deforestation.

- It's a well-conducted study and it's another argument for protecting the African forest elephant, believes environmental scientist Göran Wallin, who among other things has done research on rainforests in Rwanda.