Selection of Tuskless Elephants

A herd of elephants. Caption: Some elephant populations seem to be missing their tusks.

Working in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique, Dr. Joyce Poole and colleagues make a striking observation: many female elephants lack tusks. Elephant tusks are important for obtaining food and water, and essential to male elephants for competing for mates. There is a strong natural selection for having tusks; however, Dr. Poole has discovered the proportion of tuskless elephants has increased in some populations. She explains possible reasons for the increase in the number of elephants lacking tusks.

(Source: DCMP)

Metadata

Keywords:
biology, evolution

Files 1

  • Selection of Tuskless Elephants

    Type:
    Video
    Format:
    Streaming
    Accommodations:
    English Captions - Auditory, English Audio Descriptions - Visual
    Languages:
    English
    License:
    DCMP Membership
    Author:
    Howard Hughes Medical Institute
    Length:
    6 minutes