Natural or un-natural selection has consequences.
Evolution is real.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/qjbdnp/rampant-poaching-forces-elephants-to-evolve-to-not-have-tusks-study-finds

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/10/22/tuskless-elephants-poaching-mozambique/

Intensive ivory poaching has been linked to the increase of tuskless elephants in Mozambique, and the elephants have likely adapted to survive, a new study published Thursday by the journal Science found.

The study, centered in the Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique, concluded that the sharp decline in the elephant population caused during the Mozambican Civil War (1977 to 1992), when both sides engaged in animal poaching, was accompanied by an increase in the survival rates of tuskless elephants.

“Intensive poaching in Africa has been associated with an increase in the frequency of tuskless elephants, exclusively (or nearly so) among females,” the study says. It notes no record of tuskless male elephants in the park.

The sharp, 90 percent decline of the Gorongosa elephant population during the war was accompanied by “a nearly threefold increase in the frequency of tuskless females,” from 18.5 percent in 1970 to 50.9 percent in 2000. The population of tuskless elephants has since declined to 33 percent in 2010.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/24/2021 10:01AM by anybody.

What about the rattle snakes that don't rattle ?

Pick 'em up (and shake them).
I bet you'll be rattled!