Some elephants are evolving to have no tusks as a response to brutal poaching

[Charlemagne]

Some elephants are evolving to have no tusks as a response to brutal poaching

While an elephant's tusks are among its defining features and tools for living, But an increasing proportion of female elephants in Mozambique's Gorongosa National Park have been born without them -- an evolutionary response to poaching, some scientists say.

www.cnn.com

 

[shack]

I didn't realize that species could evolve that quickly.

 

[Indiana]

Yes, not likely.
Particularly in a species that lives 50 yrs or more.
Just “some scientists” looking for a headline.

 

[Valcazar]

It's a shittily-written headline that takes advantage of the idea creatures somehow consciously evolve in response to things.

The reality is very simple - poachers didn't shoot elephants who didn't have tusks.
Red hair is rare in humans (1-2%), but normal enough.
Now I spend 15-20 years shooting humans who don't have red hair in an area at an alarming rate. The entire population of humans in the area I'm killing them drops by 90%. A huge chunk of those who survive have red hair, (say 10-15% now). I stop killing so many people and the human population recovers, but now the proportion of red-heads is much higher.

That's it.
That's the story.

 

[y2kmark]

Yes, not likely.
Particularly in a species that lives 50 yrs or more.
Just “some scientists” looking for a headline.

Too bad Republicans can't evolve into sentient beings without it taking millennia...