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> It started off about as common as humans having green eyes. Elephant poaching has been around since long before the Mozambique civil war. The number of tuskl
by drtz 5y ago
> It started off about as common as humans having green eyes.
Elephant poaching has been around since long before the Mozambique civil war. The number of tuskless elephants may have been at 2-4% prior to the war, but that doesn't mean that lower levels of poaching didn't push it up to that level from some much lower naturally-occurring level.
2-4% seems like a _very high_ rate for a trait that could negatively impact a female's chance of survival AND kills 100% of her male offspring.
- jbay808 5y agoFurther to your point, I read elsewhere that the base rate in captivity is closer to 0.5%.
- Stevvo 5y agoHuman behavior probably has the opposite effect in captive elephants. If a captive elephant is born without tusks then the Mahout is going to kill it rather than invest in rearing an animal that has much reduced utility and will not yield healthy offspring.
- unmole 5y agoElephants are not really bread in captivity.
- bruckie 5y agoWhile that's generally true, there are exceptions. Elephants at the Oregon Zoo have birthed more than two dozen babies over the past several decades. https://www.oregonzoo.org/node/1948/media https://www.oregonzoo.org/node/1948/media
- tokai 5y agoThey are bread in captivity. In Europe the breeding is organized by the European Endangered Species Programme. https://nhatrangbay.net.vnwww.eaza.net/assets/Uploads/EAZA-Documents-Other/EAZA-Position-Statement-on-the-Evolution-of-Elephant-Management-Systems-at-Member-Zoos-FINAL.pdf https://nhatrangbay.net.vnwww.eaza.net/assets/Uploads/EAZA-D... https://www.elephant.se/elephant_breeding_in_europe.php https://www.elephant.se/elephant_breeding_in_europe.php
- Moghammed 5y agoI highly doubt those elephants are getting killed if they don't have tusks, though.