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，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%的小母象出生時沒有它們夢寐以求的門牙，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，這種情況是人類對象牙的渴望造成的直接結(jié)果。