Tuskless elephants evolving due to poachers
By Wang Zhuoqiong (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-07-16 07:10

Because of the rampant killing of male elephants for tusks, the female-to-male ratio has changed from the ideal 2:1 to 4:1 in China and 100:1 in India.

The uneven ratio is attributed to the dramatic reduction in the fertility of the species and the depletion of its gene pool, Zhang added.

Some adolescent elephants are killed before they breed.

Last year in China, four Asian elephants were found shot dead.

International trade in ivory was illegalized in 1989 in a treaty administered by the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species Fauna and Flora (CITES). Some 160 member nations, including China, have signed the treaty banning the trade of products from endangered animals.

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