Tuskless Elephants Evolving

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Tuskless elephants evolving thanks to poachers

Wang Zhuoqiong

 

More male Asian elephants in China will be born without tusks because

poaching of tusked elephants is reducing the gene pool, a recent

study predicts.

Research by Zhang Li, an associate professor of zoology with the

college of life sciences at Beijing Normal University, discovered

that the gene for tusklessness is spreading among the endangered

species in its habitat in Yunnan Province of Southwest China.

The gene, which exists in Asian elephants at a normal ratio of 2 to 5

per cent, has increased to 5 per cent to 10 per cent in China among

males of the species, according to Zhang's research.

" This decrease in the number of elephants born with tusks shows the

poaching pressure for ivory on the animal, " said Zhang, who has led

his research group at the reserve in the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous

Prefecture since 1999, where two-thirds of China's Asian elephants

live.

Their research involves about 100 Asian elephants living in the

reserve area, of which only 20 are adult males.

" We found two of 20 do not have tusks, " Zhang said.

Only male elephants have tusks, which are said to be a symbol of

masculinity and a weapon to fight for territory. However, due to

poaching for ivory, the elephants' pride has become a death sentence.

" The larger tusks the male elephant has, the more likely it will be

shot by poachers, " Zhang said. " Therefore, the ones without tusks

survive, preserving the tuskless gene in the species.

" It is not the result of natural evolution. Rather, it is a reluctant

choice made in the face of a gun. "

The depletion of the gene pool was explored in Uganda by Eve Abe, who

commented that a gene for tusklessness is spreading throughout the

elephant population in the country's Queen Elizabeth National Park,

which experienced heavy poaching in the 1970s and '80s.

However, Zhang's assertion about the tusklessness gene among the

Asian elephants due to poaching remains in doubt among some

international academicians.

" This is, of course, a possibility, but till now there is no clear

genetic proof that it can occur, " said Vivek Menon, executive

director of the Wildlife Trust of India, a non-profit conservation

organization that fights to prevent the destruction of India's

wildlife.

" The elephants will evolve towards higher security and evolve as

tuskless. But we cannot say that it is already happening. "

So far, there are between 45,000 and 50,000 Asian elephants in 13

countries, including China and India. China only has about 250.

Poaching is an alarming threat to the remaining few, in addition to

the problems of loss of habitat as a result of the invasion of human

activity.

Because of the rampant killing of male elephants for tusks, the

female-to-male ratio has changed from the ideal 2:1 to 4:1 in China

and 100:1 in India.

The uneven ratio is attributed to the dramatic reduction in the

fertility of the species and the depletion of its gene pool, Zhang

added.

Some adolescent elephants are killed before they breed.

Last year in China, four Asian elephants were found shot dead.

International trade in ivory was illegalized in 1989 in a treaty

administered by the Convention of International Trade in Endangered

Species Fauna and Flora (CITES). Some 160 member nations, including

China, have signed the treaty banning the trade of products from

endangered animals.

 

(China Daily)