--- title: "Poaching Is Forcing Elephants to Evolve Away From Having Tusks" description: "Poachers on the hunt for elephant tusks have strained the population to the point that they're forcing the hand of evolution, according to new research." date: "2018-11-09" modified: "2018-11-09" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/elephant-tusks-poaching-evolution" categories: - "Science & Energy" tags: - "elephants" - "evolution" - "poaching" --- # Poaching Is Forcing Elephants to Evolve Away From Having Tusks ![According to new research, poachers have caused such a strain on elephant populations that they're forcing the hand of evolution.]() *\Image: DKunert\* ## Poached Eggs Poachers that kill or maim elephants for their ivory tusks have decimated world elephant populations. According to [new research](), that activity has placed such a strain on elephant populations in Mozambique that it's forcing the hand of evolution. Historically, only 2 to 4 percent of female African elephants were naturally tuskless — and now nearly a third of the population is. ## Pachyderm's Canon That's according to as-yet-unpublished research by Joyce Poole, an elephant behavior expert. Poole [told ]()*National Geographic* that "once there’s been heavy poaching pressure on a population, then the poachers start to focus on the older females as well," and that over time, "with the older age population, you start to get this really higher proportion of tuskless females." ## Trunk Club Other researchers have corroborated the phenomenon outside Mozambique. In the early 2000s, according to *National Geographic,* 98 percent of the nearly 200 female elephants in South Africa's Addo Elephant National Park had no tusks. The phenomenon is a bleak condemnation of the cruelty of poaching — but also a stark example of how pressure on an ecosystem can lead to incredible evolutionary adaptations. **READ MORE:** [Under Poaching Pressure, Elephants Are Evolving to Lose Their Tusks]() \[*National Geographic*\] ***More on elephants: Woolly Mammoth DNA Could Help Save Today’s Elephants*** ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()