Poaching making China elephants evolve tuskless

[BrainRants]

BEIJING, July 17 (Reuters) - Chinese elephants are evolving into an increasingly tuskless breed because poaching is changing the gene pool, a newspaper reported on Sunday.

Five to 10 percent of Asian elephants in China now had a gene that prevented the development of tusks, up from the usual 2 to 5 percent, the China Daily said, quoting research from Beijing Normal University.

"The larger tusks the male elephant has, the more likely it will be shot by poachers," said researcher Zhang Li, an associate professor of zoology. "Therefore, the ones without tusks survive, preserving the tuskless gene in the species."

<snip>

Similar changes in elephant tusk development and sex ratios have been reported in Africa and India.

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Of course, evolution is just a theory. It is amazing the number of people that buy into this Intelligent Design bullshit.

[stepnw1f]

1. A Co-Worker Just Told Me About This Today

Evolution truly is miraculous. Why can't fundie nut bags understand that?

I know...

[BrainRants]

2. I believe they're against evolution because they themselves

are incapable of evolving mentally beyond what the Bible tells them. The capacity to hold two opposing thoughts in their head is foreign crazy talk. In their world everything is questionable, but the Bible is absolute.

My nutbag is smarter than the average fundie nutbag. :)

[Ian David]

3. BLASPHEMER!!!! BLASPHEMER!!! BLASPHEMER!!!! BLASPHEMER!!!

BLASPHEMER!!!! BLASPHEMER!!! BLASPHEMER!!!! BLASPHEMER!!! BLASPHEMER!!!! BLASPHEMER!!! BLASPHEMER!!!! BLASPHEMER!!! BLASPHEMER!!!! BLASPHEMER!!! BLASPHEMER!!!! BLASPHEMER!!! BLASPHEMER!!!! BLASPHEMER!!! BLASPHEMER!!!! BLASPHEMER!!!

[mcscajun]

4. I dunno...but you'd think if they were going to believe in a god...

...that 'works in mysterious ways', couldn't they imagine that one of those 'mysterious ways' might be Evolution?

[Carla in Ca]

5. Oh, well said

Can I use that one? Very nice.

:thumbsup:

[mcscajun]

9. Please....use it frequently. Spread reason far and wide.

:)

[jsamuel]

6. That has been my belief for a very long time :)

it actually works with "intelligent design"

[NawlinsNed]

7. That isn't evolution, it's natural selection.

[K-W]

8. It is both. EOM

[mcscajun]

10. The mechanism of evolutionary change was natural selection.

It's one of the basic principles espoused by Darwin.

[TimeChaser]

11. Beautiful! Natural selection at work

ID is more of a philosophy, really. The creationists who want it taught along side of evolution have no idea what they're talking about.