Poaching makes elephants evolve tuskless (13)

9 Name: Anonymous Scientist : 2006-10-21 18:46 ID:Nn/RYVFt

This isn't evolution, just inbreeding. If tusks are useful to an elephant (mating choices, digging tools, etc.) and all tusked elephants die out (through poaching), the less survival traited tuskless elephants become the dominant elephant species because no one is poaching them for their ivory, and their genes spread by not giving females any other biological choice. In a few million years when the tuskless elephants have been dominant long enough, the tusked elephant gene may leave their genome entirely or become 'junk' dna. In the meantime, the tusks may be re-introduced through selective breeding in captivity.

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