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The Learning Kingdom's Cool Fact of the Day for March 30, 1999
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Why are elephants in Africa being born without tusks?
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Ivory poachers in Africa have provided a dramatic demonstration of how
evolution works. By killing only those elephants that bear large,
valuable tusks, they have allowed elephants with smaller tusks or none
at all to multiply.
A survey conducted in Uganda's Queen Elizabeth National Park found
that up to 30 percent of the elephants had no tusks, up from one
percent in the 1930s, and many of the rest had greatly reduced tusks.
The same trend is happening all over Africa, as a result of selective
culling by poachers.
Elephants use their tusks to help them tear apart vegetation, dig in
the ground for important dietary minerals, and to help them compete
for mates. Without tusks, they are forced to rely on other sources
for food and minerals, and their mating process must change.
Researchers believe that the elephant population is on the rise again
after years of severe poaching.
The tuskless elephant population is on the rise across Africa:
http://www.gaiabooks.co.uk/environment/elephants_tuskless.html
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