Tuskless Elephants Escape Poachers, but May Evolve New Problems
The New York Times
Scientists identified the genes that played a role in many female elephants of Mozambique’s Gorongosa National Park being born without tusks.
A deep enough wound will leave a scar, but a traumatic event in the history of an animal population may leave a mark on the genome itself. During the Mozambican Civil War from 1977 to 1992, humans killed so many elephants for their lucrative ivory that the animals seem to have evolved in the space of a generation. The result was that a large number are now naturally tuskless.
A paper published Thursday in Science has revealed the tooth-building genes that are likely involved. One of those same genes is linked to a syndrome in human females that causes abnormal tooth growth. In both humans and elephants, the mutation is lethal to males.
Although evolving to be tuskless might spare some surviving elephants from poachers, there will likely be long-term consequences for the population.
