African elephants are evolving to lose their tusks, giving ivory poachers a disadvantage.
According to National Geographic, 32 percent of female elephants born at Mozambique’s Gorongosa National Park since the county’s civil war were born without tusks. This percentage is much higher than the 2 to 4 percent of elephants born without tusks naturally.
During the country’s 15-year civil war, many animals with tusks were slaughtered for ivory to finance weapons and for meat to feed the fighters. As a result, tuskless elephants had a biological advantage.
However, according to National Geographic, the phenomenon was also seen in other countries with heavy levels of ivory poaching.
In South Africa, 98 percent of the 174 females in Addo Elephant National Park were reportedly tuskless in the early 2000s.
“The prevalence of tusklessness in Addo is truly remarkable and underscores the fact that high levels of poaching pressure can do more than just remove individuals from a population,” said researcher Ryan Long. “The consequences of such dramatic changes in elephant populations are only just beginning to be explored.”
This is not the first time this has been seen in elephants. According to National Geographic, Asian elephants, who were also hunted for their tusks also saw higher levels of elephants without tusks.
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