Ivory Poaching Driving, Evolutionary Change, in Elephants.<br />Researchers say that years of civil war <br />and poaching in Mozambique have led <br />to elephants that will never develop tusks.<br />NBC reports that during the civil war, <br />which lasted from 1977 to 1992, elephants <br />were slaughtered for ivory to finance the war.<br />In some regions, like Gorongosa <br />National Park, nearly 90 percent <br />of the elephant population was killed.<br />Evolutionary biologist Shane Campbell-Staton and his team have found that the survivors seem to be increasingly born without the ability to grow tusks.<br />According to NBC, the genetic trait was once <br />considered rare in African savannah elephants.<br />On October 21, the team published <br />their findings in the journal 'Science.'.<br />Perhaps more perplexing than the <br />prevalence of tusklessness, two-thirds <br />of all offspring are born female.<br />Campbell-Staton, based <br />at Princeton University, <br />says that the years of unrest , “changed the trajectory <br />of evolution in that population.”.<br />Researchers in Mozambique reached <br />their findings after observing the national <br />park’s 800 elephants for several years.<br />Samuel Wasser, a conservation biologist <br />at the University of Washington, said, "when we think about natural selection, we think about <br />it happening over hundreds, or thousands, of years.<br />The fact that this dramatic selection for <br />tusklessness happened over 15 years <br />is one of the most astonishing findings, Samuel Wasser, Conservation Biologist <br />at the University of Washington, via NBC
