The toothless male
Sadly, the incidence of tusk-less males is becoming more and more common in India. It is thought to be due to poaching, if all the big tuskers are lost, these big teeth genes are being lost. Evolution in progress. In addition to this, the physical morphology is changing in these elephants too. African elephants have generally had the top of their heads being above their back, where an asian elephants back was the 'top' of the animal. This trend is shifting, the heads of the asian elephants are thought to be rising up in compensation for loosing their tusks*.
*this is a personal correspondence with scientists researching this theory!
The Indian Elephant is one of three recognized subspecies of the Asian elephant, and native to mainland Asia. Since 1986, "Elephas maximus" has been listed as endangered by IUCN as the population has declined by at least 50% over the last three generations, estimated to be 60–75 years. The species is pre-eminently threatened by habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation.
comments (4)
"Only 7% of males bear tusks. According to the elephant census conducted in 2011 by the Wildlife Conservation Department of Sri Lanka, only 2% of the total population are tuskers." Posted 10 years ago