Elephant kills poacher in South Africa, park officials suspect

[JustAnotherGen]

32. They are evolving

They are learning to never trust us.

Interesting article:
https://www.popsci.com/science/elephant-poaching-tuskless/

It also had another unintended impact on the animals, scientists reported this week. Female elephants without any tusks became much more common after the conflict. When the researchers examined population records and genetic material from park-dwelling elephants, they found that this trait rose swiftly as a response to poaching, and they pinned down several genes that may cause it.

“This study highlights the ubiquity of human influence across the tree of life,” says Shane Campbell-Staton, an evolutionary biologist at Princeton University, who published the findings on October 21 in Science. “Even the largest organisms on the planet are not just being affected by population decline…we’re literally changing the trajectory of their evolution moving forward.”

I adore animals and elephants are grand. They FEEL.

Sooner than later - they will fight back.