Elephants evolving to lose their tusks to escape poaching
Elephants evolving to lose their tusks to escape poaching
The speed of the pivot to tusklessness was decribed as ‘astonishing’ (Picture: ElephantVoices/AP)
A hefty set of tusks is usually an advantage for elephants, letting them dig for water, strip bark for food and joust with rivals.
But amid episodes of intense ivory poaching, those big incisors become a liability.
Scientists have now detailed how Mozambique’s civil war of 1977-1992 has spawned a new…