African elephants lose their ivory genes to avoid extinction

New research by scientists shows that more and more African elephants are not ivory to avoid being shot by poachers.

The number of ivory-born African elephants is increasing as poachers constantly target individuals with the best tusks in decades, altering genetic capital in Independent animals. In some parts of Africa, 98% of female elephants have no tusks, soaring from the average of 2-6% in the past.

Nearly a third of the elephants in Africa have been illegally slaughtered by poachers over the past 10 years to meet the demand for ivory in Asia, where ivory trade is still booming, especially from China. A total of 144,000 elephants were killed during the period 2007 - 2014, making animals endangered in many places. Meanwhile, African elephant populations survived could evolve in the direction of not growing ivory like Asian elephants, researchers warn.

The number of African elephants without ivory is increasing.(Photo: AFP).

Joyce Poole, head of the Elephant Voices, has been tracking African elephant development for more than 30 years. She said there was a direct link between increased poaching and the proportion of female elephants born without tusks in some elephants.

In Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique, 90% of elephants were murdered from 1977 to 1992 during the civil war. According to Dr. Poole, poachers always target ivory individuals, nearly half of females over 35 do not have ivory. Although poaching is currently under control and the number of elephants is recovering, no ivory genes are being transmitted to offspring. About 30% of female elephants were born from the end of the war without ivory."The ivory elephants are more likely to lay off their babies and have no ivory," Dr. Poole concluded.

The most obvious example is in South Africa's Addo Elephant National Park, where 98% of children do not have ivory. Poachers only left 11 elephants at the time the park was founded in 1931 with four of the eight female elephants surviving without ivory.

In 2008, scientists discovered that in ivory elephants their tusks were less than half the size of the previous century. Although not growing ivory can prevent elephants from being poached, this is not an ideal evolution."Ivory is used to dig up food and water, move branches and stems around, to defend and attract mates. Conservationists insist on an ivory elephant that is a disabled elephant " , according to BBC.