Why Elephants Losing Their Tusks | A Disturbing Reality
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Poaching is leading to an increase of tuskless elephants, according to a new study. A new study claims that extreme ivory poaching in parts of Mozambique has led to the evolution of tuskless elephants.
Tusklessness was once a rare genetic condition but it has become increasingly prevalent among elephants in Africa.
Scientists have found that intensive poaching during the Mozambican Civil War between 1977 to 1992 resulted in tusklessness becoming more common in the female elephants of Mozambique’s Gorongosa National Park.
Female elephants without tusks were not targeted by hunters, increasing the chances that they would breed and pass on the tuskless trait to their offspring.
Elephants without Tusks, a horrible reality.
Why elephants are becoming “tuskless elephants”.
Destructive human activity has left a permanent, devastating mark on the African elephant as a species. Over the last few decades, the beloved creatures have evolved to develop without their iconic tusks which are useful in helping them dig, lift trees, and protect themselves in an attack.
Poachers had removed and illegally sold them on the black market for several years, and although the evolution happened relatively quickly, it seems as though many of these elephants are now tuskless.
“It’s quite well-known in the scientific community that, if you subject elephants to excessive poaching or very selective hunting pressure for large tuskers, with time they will actually lose that phenotypic trait.Dr Michelle Henley, CEO” – Elephants Alive
Source – Greenmatters, Capetalk
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