Elephants are evolving without their tusks due to poaching

African elephants are evolving by not growing tusks as they feel threatened by poachers.

Poachers shoot elephants for their ivory tusks, which are believed to have healing powers. Elephants are adapting to avoid danger, reports Business Insider. Those without tusks have a biological advantage as poachers do not target them.

According to National Geographic, tusks are essentially overgrown teeth that elephants use for most of their daily tasks, like digging for water or vital minerals in the ground and toppling trees to get fibrous food.

Almost a third of the female elephant population in Mozambique do not have tusks. Earlier, this number was between 2% and 4%.

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Apart from Mozambique’s Gorongosa National Park, the tusk-less trend was seen in South Africa’s Addo Elephant National Park as well.

Ryan Long, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Idaho and a National Geographic Explorer, said, “The prevalence of tusklessness in Addo is truly remarkable and underscores the fact that high levels of poaching pressure can do more than just remove individuals from a population.”

In China, ivory is sometimes even more valuable than gold because it is considered a cure for numerous diseases. It is believed that it can increase strength and fertility. Ivory is still in demand in the country despite a ban being imposed in 2017.

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