More and more elephants will not develop tusks due to hunting

The intense poaching of ivory During the Mozambican Civil War (1977-1992) it has caused an increase in the proportion of elephants that they will never develop fangs.

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The results of a study published in ‘Science’ shed new light on the powerful selective forces that human hunting can exert on wild animal populations. The selective killing of species – whether for food, security or profit reasons – and intense as human populations and technology have grown.

So much so that it is suggested that human exploitation of wildlife has become a powerful target species. However, the resulting evolutionary signals remain unclear.

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In this study, Shane Campbell-Staton and colleagues at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) investigated the impacts of ivory hunting on the evolution of African elephants in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique, during and after the Mozambique Civil War.

During this conflict, the armed forces of both sides relied heavily on him, causing a rapid population decline of more than 90%.

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Using historical field data and population modeling, the researchers show that intense poaching during this period led to an increased frequency of total absence of tusks in female elephants in the region.

According to the authors, sex-linked for this pattern. Whole genome analysis revealed a pair of candidate genes, including AMELX, a loci with known roles in the development of mammalian teeth.

In humans, these genes are associated with a dominant X-linked syndrome that slows the growth of lateral incisors, which are homologous to elephant tusks.

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