非洲大象為自我保護(hù)而不再長象牙

After centuries of being hunted by humans for ivory, African elephants are evolving to be tuskless.

在被人類獵殺以獲取象牙幾個(gè)世紀(jì)之后，如今非洲象正在進(jìn)化成沒有象牙的物種。

As National Geographic reports, the tusks on male elephants -- a sign of virility among the gentle giants -- are notably shrinking in size thanks to the effects of ivory poaching.

據(jù)《國家地理》報(bào)道，由于象牙偷獵的影響，雄性大象的象牙尺寸明顯縮小，而象牙是這種溫柔的龐然大物強(qiáng)壯的象征。

Meanwhile, more females are being born without their long, majestic front teeth than ever before, especially in places where the effects of the ivory trade have been particularly devastating.

與此同時(shí)，越來越多的母象出生后不再和以前一樣長出長而威嚴(yán)的門牙，尤其是在受象牙貿(mào)易影響尤為嚴(yán)重的地區(qū)。

That's true in Mozambique, where 15 years of civil war were financed, in part, by the sale of illegal ivory.

在莫桑比克確實(shí)如此，象牙的非法銷售給長達(dá)15年的內(nèi)戰(zhàn)提供了部分資金。

Of the female elephants that survived, many were naturally tuskless, which meant they evaded the deadly attention of hunters.

在幸存下來的母象中，許多天生就沒有象牙，這意味著它們避開了獵人致命的關(guān)注。

Now, these remaining ladies are passing down the tuskless trait to a new generation of daughters.

現(xiàn)在，這些幸存的母象正在把這種無牙特性遺傳給下一代的小母象。

Experts say that before the war, only 2 to 4 percent of girl calves would be born without their coveted front teeth, which are smaller than those of their male counterparts. Today, roughly a third of the females born after 1992 -- the year the war in Mozambique ended -- never developed any tusks at all.

專家們表示，戰(zhàn)前，只有2%到4%的小母象出生時(shí)沒有它們夢(mèng)寐以求的門牙，它們的門牙要比同齡的雄性小。而如今，1992年莫桑比克戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)結(jié)束后出生的雌象中，大約有三分之一從未長出象牙。

Sadly, there's little doubt that this development is a direct result of the human desire for ivory.

可悲的是，毫無疑問，這種情況是人類對(duì)象牙的渴望造成的直接結(jié)果。