Elephants Without Tusks Apparently formed in Mozambique as a Consequence of Ivory Hunting

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Elephants without tusks apparently formed in Mozambique as a consequence of ivory harvesting.
Mozambique: Tuskless elephant evolution linked to ivory hunting

In Gorongosa National Park, a previously unusual genetic trait became more common as ivory poaching to finance a civil war pushed the species to the verge of extinction, according to a study published in Science magazine. Prior to the war, around 18.5 percent of females were born without tusks. However, in elephants born since the early 1990s, this ratio has risen to 33%.
During the civil war in Mozambique, which lasted from 1977 to 1992, militants on both sides massacred 90 percent of the country's elephant population. Poachers used the proceeds from the ivory sales to fund the bloody battle between government forces and anti-communist guerrillas.
Genes determine whether elephants inherit tusks from their parents, much as they do with eye color and blood type in people.
Hunters left tuskless elephants alone, increasing the possibility that they would reproduce and pass on the tuskless feature to their progeny.
Researchers have long hypothesized that the feature, which is exclusively found in female elephants, is linked to the elephant's sex. The pattern was connected to a mutation on the X chromosome that was lethal to males who did not develop normally in the womb and dominant in females after the genomes of tusked and tuskless elephants were sequenced.
Professor Robert Pringle of Princeton University, one of the study's co-authors, stated that the discovery could have a number of long-term consequences for the species.
He speculated that because the tuskless feature was lethal to male progeny, fewer elephants might be born in general. This might stymie the species' comeback, which now numbers just over 700 in the park.
Changes to the broader landscape are also a possibility, as the study found that tusked and tuskless animals eat different flora.
Professor Pringle stressed, however, that the feature may be reversed if populations returned from the brink of extinction. ( 22/10/2021) 10-22-2021 10th october 2021

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