Answer :
Tusks are essentially overgrown teeth. Yet they’re typically used for most task of daily living; digging for water or vital minerals in the ground, debating trees to secure fibrous food, and helping males compete for females
Based on the theory of evolution, poaching of males for their tusk exacted a pressure on the elephant population which made more tuskless males to survive more than males with tucks as a result of natural selection.
Also, tucklessness as a trait is sex-linked, this explains why 50% of females lost their tusks why the males retain theirs.
Recall:
- The theory of evolution describes the change that occur overtime through natural selection, whereby, offspring that are "fitter" are reproduced.
- Those that lack the fitness to survive produce fewer offspring than will survive.
Male elephants are known to have tusks. However, poaching of elephants with tusks have exacted the pressure of natural selection on the population of elephants in the park.
The few tuskless males that are left surviving therefore produce more offspring as they pass the gene of tucklessness to their offspring. Over a long time, more tuckless males emerge while males with tusks will become almost non-existence as a result of natural selection.
A study showed that most females elephants have no incisors which suggests that the trait for tucklessness is sex-linked. This explains why 50% of the females lost their tusks and males retain theirs.
In summary, based on the theory of evolution, poaching of males for their tusk exacted a pressure on the elephant population which made more tuskless males to survive more than males with tucks as a result of natural selection.
Also, tucklessness as a trait is sex-linked, this explains why 50% of females lost their tusks why the males retain theirs.
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