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Elephants without tusks are a response to the selective pressure of poaching

nautil.us

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Re: Elephants without tusks are a response to the selective pressure of poaching

#21

Post by projektir »

ChristianGeek wrote: post #5

This is the saddest example of "natural" selection I've heard of.

Then I would say you haven't heard much. Natural selection is a horrific process whether or not humans are involved in it. By definition it implies the death and suffering of countless creatures so that a few are selected.

This is nothing. We're concerned about it because we like elephants, but as far as nature is concerned, there's nothing wrong with killing off ~75% of all species once in a blue moon. [1]

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extinction_event#List_of_extin...

Re: Elephants without tusks are a response to the selective pressure of poaching

#22

Post by pavanred »

ChristianGeek wrote: post #5

This is the saddest example of "natural" selection I've heard of.

Why sad? Why should elephants have tusks. Elephants perhaps evolved tusks because they were useful weapons and tools in the past, but for generations of elephants now the tusks are the reason they are killed. So, they are evolving without tusks to counter the biggest threat for their survival, humans.

Re: Elephants without tusks are a response to the selective pressure of poaching

#24

Post by SapphireSun »

JBiserkov wrote: post #2

>While virtually no male elephants are tuskless (they need tusks to fight), about 2 percent of female elephants are naturally tuskless. Among female elephants in Gorongosa who were adults during the civil war, however, half are tuskless — the others were simply killed. But tusklessness is an inheritable trait. That means that, even though poaching levels have fallen, a third of Gorongos’s young female population is t…

Naturally occurring mutations / variants are the raw material for natural selection. Nothing contradictory about that. :)

Re: Elephants without tusks are a response to the selective pressure of poaching

#25

Post by pavanred »

projektir wrote: post #21
ChristianGeek wrote: post #5

This is the saddest example of "natural" selection I've heard of.

Then I would say you haven't heard much. Natural selection is a horrific process whether or not humans are involved in it. By definition it implies the death and suffering of countless creatures so that a few are selected. This is nothing. We're concerned about it because we like elephants, but as far as nature is concerned, there's nothing wrong with killing off ~75% of all species once in a blue moon. [1] 1. https:…

I think the term natural selection is sort of a misnomer, makes it easy to misinterpret it as if many are let to die while few are selected. It just happens creatures that with certain traits are more adapted to survive and reproduce (not having tusks in this case), where as some other creatures are not and die. Hence those specific traits tend to be preserved in subsequent generations while the others just didn't survive to reproduce.

And, the extinction events, its not like nature is cruel and killed off most species. As you see in the list of extinctions, the reasons mostly are that the environment (or nature if you will), changed too drastically and quickly that most species couldn't adapt fast enough to survive.

Re: Elephants without tusks are a response to the selective pressure of poaching

#27

Post by wildmusings »

pavanred wrote: post #25
projektir wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then I would say you haven't heard much. Natural selection is a horrific process whether or not humans are involved in it. By definition it implies the death and suffering of countless creatures so that a few are selected. This is nothing. We're concerned about it because we like elephants, but as far as nature is concerned, there's nothing wrong with killing off ~75% of all species once in a blue moon. [1] 1. https:…

I think the term natural selection is sort of a misnomer, makes it easy to misinterpret it as if many are let to die while few are selected. It just happens creatures that with certain traits are more adapted to survive and reproduce (not having tusks in this case), where as some other creatures are not and die. Hence those specific traits tend to be preserved in subsequent generations while the others just didn't su…

>its not like nature is cruel and killed off most species

>the environment (or nature if you will), changed too drastically and quickly that most species couldn't adapt fast enough to survive.

These are not mutually exclusive. Mass starvation caused by environmental changes is a cruel kill off. I'm not sure what the point you're trying to make is.

Re: Elephants without tusks are a response to the selective pressure of poaching

#28

Post by Flabenmaben »

adamnemecek wrote: post #16

I'm hoping that at some point in the future, ML + drones will make poaching a thing of the past. Unfortunately, some African countries, such as Zimbabwe and South Africa, have restrictions on drone ownership. Also if you want to help, you should consider donating to the International Anti-Poaching Foundation[0][1] which fights these poachers. The founder, Damien Mander[2], is an Australian ex spec-ops sniper who is u…

There's a group at USC that has been working for a few years on using AI to combat poaching, with some interesting results.

http://teamcore.usc.edu/people/Paws/index.html

Re: Elephants without tusks are a response to the selective pressure of poaching

#30

Post by TeMPOraL »

notgood wrote: post #29

You should think a little bit ahead of that, give them fake tusks filled with poison gas (anti-human only). You aren't going to win this war being the passive one.

If Nature would be able to think ahead, it'd have already colonized the Solar System.
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