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In Mozambique, researchers are racing to understand the genetics of elephants born without tusks—and the consequences of the trait.
- Dina Fine Maron
- National Geographic
The oldest elephants wandering Mozambique’s Gorongosa National Park bear the indelible markings of the civil war that gripped the country for 15 years: Many are tuskless.
They’re the lone survivors of a conflict that killed about 90 percent of these beleaguered animals, slaughtered for ivory to finance weapons and for meat to feed the fighters.
Hunting gave elephants that didn’t grow tusks a biological advantage in Gorongosa.
Recent figures suggest…
