Elephants without tusks have quickly evolved due to a war financed by ivory, which is what their tusks are made of. During the conflict from 1977 to 1992 in Mozambique, men from both sides killed elephants for ivory to help with finances. Throughout the duration of the war, around 90 per cent of the elephants were killed in the region of Gorongosa National Park.
After this war, a study conducted found that half of the females had no tusks, compared to ⅕ before. Tusks are very beneficial to elephants. It allows them to dig for water, strip bark for food, and joust with other elephants. The researchers found that the years of civil war and poaching in the country led to more elephants that will never have tusks.
Genes are responsible for whether the elephant inherits tusks or not just like eye colour in humans. Tusklessness was once rare in the African savanna elephants, but now it is becoming more common. A biologist at Princeton University, Shane Campbell-Staton said the years of unrest “Changed the trajectory of evolution in that population,”
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